Local councils struggling to address climate change and public health issues might do well to employ more environmental health officers.

The surveyed EHO officers also identified environmental health issues associated with climate change as their most significant future challenge and believed there was a lack of adequate resourcing.

Lead researcher Professor Kirstin Ross said that local councils and EHOs have found themselves “Caught between managing current workload demands and issues” due to their failure to recognise the value of environmental health, which led to the groups “Trying to urgently prepare for emerging environmental health issues associated with climate change by bolstering insufficient current resources.”

"Flinders University Associate Professor Harriet Whiley added,"In Australia, environmental health officers are currently an underutilised source of knowledge and skills, uniquely positioned to contribute to climate change adaptation planning at a local government level.

Researchers suggest that the current Australian environmental health qualifications accredited by Environmental Health Australia using a knowledge matrix were insufficient, and the workforce required more uniform recognition of accredited degrees.