Wednesday 2 December 2020 (Suva, Fiji) In a landmark event held today, the New Zealand High Commissioner to Fiji, H.E. Jonathan Curr launched the Leaving No One Behind in the Digital Era: Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme. It is a first of its kind initiative for the region where market-based climate risk insurance solutions will be made available to Pacific islanders in Fiji and Vanuatu first, and then progressively to other Pacific island countries. The Programme, jointly developed and to be implemented by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is financially supported by the New Zealand Aid Programme and the Australian Aid Programme.
Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) are highly vulnerable to natural hazards and each year face huge economic losses due to cyclones, droughts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters. The impact through some of these events have been exacerbated due to climate change. Given the limited climate disaster risk financing instruments available in the region, governments often resort to seek external aid assistance, borrow or reallocate budgets meant for other purposes, such as education, health or infrastructure.
This new initiative aims to develop affordable parametric and weather index-based climate risk insurance targeted at the agriculture, fisheries, retail and tourism sectors with specific focus on women, youth, migrants and MSME segments. The products and solutions will be piloted, tested and scaled during the inception phase of two years through an Inclusive Insurance Innovation Lab set up by the Programme. UNCDF will use its in-country presence, technical expertise and, decade long extensive experience in the Pacific to work with private sector financial service providers including insurance companies, reinsurers, mobile network operators and other private sector financial service providers, to, develop and deploy digital and other technology driven interventions to ensure last mile delivery.
Parametric insurance has the distinct advantage that it allows for much faster claim payments post-disaster since there is no need to undertake extensive assessments. The payments are linked to predefined triggers and also made digitally through mobile wallets and bank accounts. By combining the features of microinsurance, the beneficiaries will be covered for a relatively small, but adequate sums of insurance that will provide immediate relief and help recover faster and, in turn builds a stronger financial resilience.
The overall objective of the programme is to improve the financial preparedness of “Pacific households, communities, small businesses, organisations and governments towards climate change and natural hazards” through a combination of stakeholder engagement, co-creation of solutions, awareness and capacity building, innovative financing options and digital linkages – with a robust interface to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. […]
Read the whole article by the Institute for Environment and Human Security of the United Nations University (UNU-EHS) here.
