Wednesday, November 15, 2017

COP23: ‘InsuResilience’ to Provide the Poor with More Financial Protection Against Climate Risks

 Codrington town in Barbuda after last October hurricanes (Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas) Click to Enlarge.
An international initiative aimed at providing insurance to 400 million more poor and vulnerable people by 2020 moved into a higher gear with the announcement of additional funding and many more partners.

The InsuResilience Global Partnership for Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance Solutions, launched Tuesday at the 2017 UN Climate Conference in Bonn, now brings together G20 countries in partnership with the V20 nations.

The V20 is a group of 49 of the most vulnerable countries including small islands like Fiji which holds the Presidency of this year’s conference:  COP23.

Germany has joined forces with its partners, the Ethiopian Chair of the V20, the United Kingdom, and the World Bank, in order to launch this Global Partnership.

"The Global Partnership is a practical response to the needs of those who suffer loss because of climate change.  And I am very proud that it has happened under Fiji’s Presidency of COP.  At the same time, it is a means of preparing for a more resilient form of development for those who will have to adapt to the great challenge of climate change," said the COP23 President and Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.

Thomas Silberhorn, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, announced support for the new global partnership of 125 million USD as part of today’s launch.

This follows the £30 million commitment made by UK Government in July 2017 to the Partnership via its Centre for Global Disaster Protection.

The announcement comes in the wake of a year of damaging and devastating extreme weather events that have hit countries and communities in Asia, the Eastern Caribbean, and the Americas with some of the events described by scientists as unprecedented.

The Global Partnership supports data and risk analysis, technical assistance, and capacity building according to countries’ needs and priorities, solutions’ design of concrete risk finance and insurance solutions, smart support for the implementation for such schemes and monitoring, and evaluation efforts.  This will range from sovereign risk pools in the Pacific, Africa and the Caribbean.  The insurance schemes focus on the meso and micro level benefitting smallholders, the urban poor, and other vulnerable groups.

The next phase, announced Tuesday under the Global Partnership, is aimed at meeting the pledge of providing cover and support to an extra 400 million vulnerable people by 2020 while the efforts of the Global Partnership go beyond that original G7 goal.

Read more at  ‘InsuResilience’ to Provide the Poor with More Financial Protection Against Climate Risks

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