Cross-cutting adaptation policy: a case study of Lyme disease

Changes in land management (e.g. increasing woodland extent) can increase the number of Lyme disease infected ticks. At the same time nature based tourism, which can expose visitors to ticks and infection, is an important contributor to Scotland’s rural economy and employment.

As such Lyme disease provides a good example of a cross-cutting issue, and is used as a case study to demonstrate how to analyse wider cross-sectoral adaptation issues.

This paper sets out a method for characterising and analysing a cross-sectoral adaptation issue, providing a way to map drivers and impacts across sector, can identify and minimise conflict, and maximise co-benefits.