INTRODUCTION:
Climate-related emergencies increasingly threaten food security, water availability, and population health, particularly in regions where livelihoods depend on climate-sensitive ecosystems. Public health preparedness frameworks emphasise the importance of resilient socio-ecological systems, yet culturally embedded landscape practices remain underrepresented in emergency and disaster planning. The subak irrigation system in Bali, Indonesia, recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Landscape, integrates water management, agriculture, and social organisation and has been identified as a health-enhancing environment in prior public health research.1

METHODS:
A qualitative systems-based analysis was conducted using document analysis of international public health frameworks, UNESCO documentation, and peer-reviewed literature, combined with findings from a prior case study examining subak governance, landscape management, and everyday use.2 The analysis was informed by public health resilience concepts and social determinants of health perspectives applied in prior research on the subak landscape, complemented by established nature-based intervention frameworks from public health and planning literature.1,3

RESULTS:
The analysis identified three primary public health functions of subak in emergency and disaster contexts. First, coordinated water governance supports food security and nutritional stability during droughts and climate variability. Second, collective decision-making structures strengthen social cohesion, an established protective factor for mental health and disaster recovery. Third, landscape-based water regulation contributes to flood mitigation and reduces exposure to water-related health risks. These functions align with the WHO and UN frameworks emphasising ecosystem-based and community-based approaches to health emergency and disaster risk management.4,5

CONCLUSIONS:
Traditional landscape systems such as subak represent underutilised assets for public health preparedness in climate-related emergencies. Integrating culturally embedded environmental governance into public health and disaster risk reduction strategies may enhance resilience, equity, and sustainability. Public health policy should recognise and protect such systems as part of a broader emergency preparedness framework, particularly in climate-vulnerable settings.