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Call for Action 03 - Climate-related risks and extreme events

RELATED ONGOING WORK
Examples in alphabetical order

Risk Reduction

  • The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) aims to mainstream disaster reduction and climate change adaptation in country development strategies, such as poverty reduction strategies (PRSs), country assistance strategies (CASs), United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs), and National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs), to reduce vulnerabilities to natural hazards. http://gfdrr.org
  • The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction’s (ISDR) work includes: development of sectoral guidance to incorporate adaptation needs in disaster risk reduction strategies; provision of common disaster and climate-risk reduction guidance for countries developing Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP), Common Country Assessment (CCA) and United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF); provision of guidance for governments on how to integrate early warning systems into their disaster risk reduction and adaptation strategies; and compilation and dissemination of good practices in reducing climate-related risks at the community level. http://www.unisdr.org
  • An example of good practice by a Party is the issuing of multi-hazard warnings by the Mauritius Meteorological Service, which includes flooding and disease outbreaks as well as tsunami warnings (FCCC/SBSTA/2007/MISC.4 and Add.1 and 2.).
  • The ProVention Consortium is a global coalition of international organisations, governments, the private sector, civil society organisations and academic institutions dedicated to reducing the impacts of disasters in developing countries. It supports the exploration of disaster risk transfer for low-income countries and the poor by financially supporting schemes, sponsoring research and facilitating knowledge exchange. http://www.proventionconsortium.org

Insurance

Micro-scale risk transfer schemes have been applied in the agricultural sector and for infrastructure.

  • In India, the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute has a pilot micro-insurance scheme (Afat Vimo) with 5500 policy holders. This program is geared for vigorous expansion. http://www.southasiadisasters.net
  • In Malawi, the National Small Holders Farm Association (in cooperation with the World Bank and Opportunity International) has created a parametric index-based weather insurance product for groundnut farmers. http://www.nasfam.org
  • Microfinancing is also an option for hedging risk. In Bangladesh the microfinancing institutions, Proshika and Grameen have started to promote loans to reduce vulnerability to climate change. http://www.proshika.org/eig.htm and http://www.grameenfoundation.org

Macro-scale risk sharing schemes at the national, regional and global scale.

  • The Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) provides participating governments with immediate access to liquidity if their country is hit by a hurricane or earthquake. Reserves come from participating governments and donors and the facility is managed by Caribbean Risk Managers Ltd. with support from Sagicor Insurance Managers Ltd., as well as reinsurance partners. http://www.caribrm.com
  • The Global Index Insurance Facility is currently under discussion and is intended to provide insurance and reinsurance to index-based insurance schemes in developing countries. It is supported by the World Bank and the European Union. pdf-icon http://www.proventionconsortium.org/themes/default/pdfs/GIIF_overview_Feb06.pdf
  • In Ethiopia, to supplement and partly replace its traditional food-aid response to famine, the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) insures against extreme droughts via an index-based insurance system -providing extra capital in the case of extreme drought. http://www.odi.org.uk/plag/projects/psnp_ethiopia.html


Related initiatives

  • The Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII) launched in 2005 provides a forum for insurance-related expertise to find solutions to the risks posed by climate change. It brings together insurers, experts on climate change and adaptation, NGOs, and academia. http://www.climate-insurance.org
  • The Munich Re Foundation, together with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, serves as a platform for gathering experiences with microinsurance tools worldwide. http://www.munichre-foundation.org/StiftungsWebsite/Projects/Microinsurance