News & Events

Enhancing Climate Resilience through Knowledge Exchange

Frankfurt

From September 17th to 20th, the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management had the pleasure of hosting our third Climate Risk Insurance – Product Development Training course. This year, 25 professionals from 12 countries gathered to deepen their expertise in climate and disaster risk insurance, sharing valuable experiences and insights on addressing the complex challenges posed by climate change.

We extend our sincere thanks to all participants for their dedication and active contributions throughout the course. A special appreciation goes out to our Keynote Speaker Dr Manuela Glass; our panelists Sinja Buri, Dipankar Munshi and Neha Batra; and our trainers Dr. Annette Detken, Dr. Gero Michel, Dr. Simon Wild, Dr. Arun Rana, Josh Lin, Emma Karhan and Simon Schwall who provided invaluable guidance on the current trends and the future of climate and disaster risk insurance. Their expertise and perspectives continue to enrich the dialogue on how to enhance resilience in the face of climate risks. Finally, many thanks to the Frankfurt School Sustainable World Academy for their continued support in coordinating this event.

As we look back on yet another successful gathering, and ISF’s 5th anniversary, we are excited to continue fostering this growing community of professionals and partners, dedicated to strengthening climate resilience and building capacity in developing and emerging countries. Here's to more collaborative efforts and innovative solutions in the years to come!

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Introducing new and scaling existing climate risk parametric insurance products in Fiji

Frankfurt, Suva

Fiji is highly exposed to natural hazards, with cyclones and floods being annual events that inflict significant damage to property and cause long-term economic harm. To strengthen the resilience of vulnerable households and individuals against these adversities, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) is co-funding the development and implementation of parametric insurance products along with the Reserve Bank of Fiji, SUN Insurance, and Tower Insurance.

Fijians are particularly vulnerable to climate risks, as exemplified by Tropical Cyclone Winston in 2016, which brought wind speeds up to 325 km/h, caused USD 600 million in damages, and affected more than 60% of the population. Households with lower-to-moderate income (LMI) in Fiji employ various coping strategies to deal with these disasters, including reducing food consumption, withdrawing children from school due to unaffordable school lunches or bus fares, borrowing money, or taking funds out of their retirement savings. The National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2022-2030, released by the Reserve Bank of Fiji (RBF), highlights that climate-related insurance uptake is as low as 2%, hindered by lack of access to suitable products and affordability.

To enhance the resilience of vulnerable populations against these challenges, the ISF is co-funding the development and implementation of climate risk insurance products in collaboration with the Reserve Bank of Fiji as the project lead, and with local insurance companies SUN Insurance and Tower Insurance. The project’s objective is to provide an affordable solution to low and middle-income households and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by offering market-based climate and disaster risk financing (CDRF) instruments tailored to the specific needs of Pacific communities.

The project partners have successfully piloted two index-based insurance solutions: a standalone high windspeed cover and a combined cyclonic storm cover for high wind speed and heavy rainfall. Building on the successful pilots, the aim is now to introduce new products and test multiple variants, including bundled insurance covers for wind, rain, and fire for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) as well as standalone rainfall products.

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ISF Continues to Support IFRC’s Climate Risk Insurance Program for IFRC-DREF with further Premium Subsidy Support

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the world's largest humanitarian network, acts before, during, and after disasters and health emergencies to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people. The IFRC Disaster Response Emergency Fund (IFRC-DREF) is an efficient, fast, transparent, and localized way of getting funds directly to humanitarian actors. To enhance IFRC-DREF’s ability to respond to natural disaster events, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) co-funded the development and implementation of a groundbreaking climate risk transfer solution.

This innovative climate risk finance solution helps IFRC's member National Societies to access reliable international, short-term emergency funds necessary to support affected communities in case funding needs after natural disasters surpass the resources available. Following the successful development and launch of the 3-year insurance policy in 2024, ISF is now extending its support with further premium support.

This extension aims to ensure IFRC-DREF’s target level of available funds to respond effectively to climate disasters. The premium support will help ensure that emergency response funds are available in a timely and reliable manner, even during periods of excessive climate disasters.

Moreover, ISF´s premium support will help to demonstrate the effectiveness of this innovative insurance solution in achieving its objectives and thereby supporting the IFRC in mobilizing additional premium funding and securing pledges from other donors by 2025.

Eugen Doce, co-head of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund, said:

Building on the successful development and introduction of the insurance mechanism, this extension of the IFRC's climate risk insurance program marks a significant step forward enhancing the IFRC-DREF's capacity to respond to natural disasters. ISF’s premium subsidy support is crucial in ensuring the sustainability and scalability of this innovative insurance product. The ISF is proud to continue supporting this innovative initiative, which exemplifies the synergy between development and humanitarian efforts to improve global resilience against climate-related hazards."

Nena Stoiljkovic, IFRC’s Under Secretary General, Global Relations, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalization said:

At IFRC, we believe in the necessity to scale up our response to disasters by developing innovative ways to raise funding for IFRC-DREF. We are grateful for the support of ISF both for the development of the IFRC-DREF Insurance project for climate-related disasters as well as for its support for the premium payment. Larger IFRC-DREF as a result of the insurance project will make a huge difference in providing assistance to many more people in need all around the world.

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ISF Continues to Support Nagaland’s Climate Risk Insurance Program with further Premium Subsidy Support

Nagaland, India

Nagaland, one of the smallest and most agriculture-dependent states in India, has long been vulnerable to high levels of disaster and climate-related impacts. To enhance Nagaland’s ability to respond to natural disaster events, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) co-funded the development and implementation of a parametric insurance solution. Following the successful development and launch of the insurance mechanism, ISF is now extending its support with further premium support.

High humidity, heavy monsoon rains leading to floods, and earthquakes have caused significant loss of life, injuries, and damage to both public and private property in Nagaland. In response to these challenges, the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA), in collaboration with Tata AIG General Insurance Company Limited, pioneered a climate risk insurance solution aimed at enhancing the State Disaster Response Fund’s (SDRF) capacity to respond to major climate events. This initiative, supported by the ISF, began with the development of a basic parametric excess rainfall cover piloted in 2020.

Thanks to its success, the ISF is now extending its support by providing premium support, further strengthening Nagaland's ability to manage natural disaster events. This continued collaboration is set to drive significant improvements in the existing insurance product, ensuring a more robust and tailored approach to disaster resilience.

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Rice Value Chain Climate Cover in Cote d’Ivoire

Cote d’Ivoire

Rice production stands as one of the most important food crops of Côte d'Ivoire's agricultural landscape, sustaining livelihoods across diverse regions of the country. Despite its significance, rice production is vulnerable to climate variability and market uncertainties. To strengthen the resilience of small-scale rice producers against these adversities, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) is co-funding the development and implementation of a parametric insurance product along with ARC Ltd, the Fédération des Unions des Sociétés de Cooperatives des Producteurs de Riz de Côte d'Ivoire (FUSCOP), Sarmap, and Cabinet Africain de Solutions d’Assurances Inclusives (CASAI).

Côte d'Ivoire, nestled in West Africa, boasts a tropical climate distinguished by its consistent warmth and marked wet and dry seasons. Temperatures throughout the year remain relatively high, tempered slightly along the coast by oceanic influences. Yet, inland areas often endure hotter conditions, especially during the dry months. While this climate nurtures the growth of diverse crops, including its vital rice production, Côte d'Ivoire also faces the challenges of climate variability, with the potential for droughts, floods, and tropical storms impacting agriculture and livelihoods.

In order to enhance the resilience of vulnerable populations against the impacts of drought and flooding, the ISF signed a grant agreement with ARC Ltd, as the project lead; FUSCOP, a local rice producers’ association; Sarmap, an international InsurTech; and CASAI, an international consulting company. The project objective is to extend coverage to 125,000 rice producers, shielding their incomes and fostering sustainable agricultural practices. Building upon a successful pilot program supported by the UN World Food Programme (WFP), which covered 5,000 producers, FUSCOP's initiative represents a significant step towards enhancing the resilience of Côte d'Ivoire's rice sector.

The proposed ISF project seeks to improve the insurance solution by combining elements of weather index insurance and area-yield insurance into a hybrid insurance product solution, and to expand the offer of drought and excess rainfall insurance, ultimately benefiting the affected vulnerable populations.

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Integrated Financial and Technical Services for Agriculture in Burkina Faso

Frankfurt, Ouagadougou

The ISF has signed a grant agreement to support the implementation of a parametric insurance to strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers against climate change in Burkina Faso. The country frequently experiences droughts that significantly affect both crop and livestock production, posing severe economic challenges. The InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) is co-funding the implementation of the project along with the Yelen Assurance SA, Réseau des Caisses Populaires du Burkina (RCPB), and Cordaid.

Agriculture is one of the primary economic activities in Burkina Faso, engaging around 90% of the workforce. Between 2004 and 2013, the country faced recurring droughts impacting over one million people annually, according to the Permanent Agricultural Survey (EPA). These droughts affect large regions and consistently derail development efforts, perpetuating the population below the poverty line. With over 40% of the population living on less than $2 per day, these challenges persistently hinder the nation's efforts to eliminate poverty.

In order to contribute to the objective of increasing the smallholder farmers’ resilience, the ISF signed a grant agreement with Yelen Assurance, a local insurance company acting as the project lead, RCPB, a local microfinance institution, and Cordaid, an NGO responsible for capacity development and technical assistance for climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices. The project aims to enhance the resilience of smallholder farmers to climate change by expanding the use of a parametric agriculture drought insurance product. Additionally, it seeks to introduce an insurance plan covering excess rainfall and to implement technical advisory services facilitating the adoption of CSA practices.

Yelen Assurance currently offers index-based insurance tailored for smallholder farmer households cultivating maize, millet, and sorghum, safeguarding against drought or insufficient rainfall. This insurance product is distributed via microfinance institutions and input providers. Insurance payouts are determined using satellite data, posing basis risk for smallholder farmers at the micro level. To mitigate this risk, the project partners will install additional weather stations to supplement existing public infrastructure. The NGO partner, Cordaid, will contribute with technical services for sustainable agriculture practices to strengthen the value chain, also benefiting low-income smallholder farmers.

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Madagascar signs grant agreement for risk analytics support

Antananarivo

The Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA) programme has provided a grant to Madagascar's Cellule de Prévention et d'appui à la Gestion des Urgences (CPGU). The signing ceremony took place in Madagascar on 16 May, 2024. The agreed GRMA programme will provide the Government of Madagascar with relevant climate risk models and tools, informing its Request for Support to the Global Shield against Climate Risks.

Due to its geographical location in the southwestern Indian Ocean, Madagascar faces significant vulnerability to climate change. The country is exposed to various climatic hazards including tropical cyclones, floods, droughts, red sandstorm, landslides, locust invasion and coastal erosion. Climate change predictions suggest rising temperatures, increased frequency of very hot days, potential decreases in annual rainfall, and intensified heavy precipitation or cyclone events.

In order to enhance the resilience of vulnerable populations against the impact of extreme weather events, the CPGU, representing the Government of Madagascar, has signed a grant agreement with AXA Climate for risk analytics as implementing partner of the GRMA, a partnership harnessing private and public risk expertise.

After an expression of interest by CPGU and the Ministry of Finance to the GRMA, requesting its technical assistance in strengthening Malagasy technical capacities in risk modelling, the GRMA team conducted two in-country multi-stakeholder workshops in 2023 to identify needs in terms of risk data and modelling, as well as activities relating to Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI).

The GRMA application by Madagascar outlined the following five areas of support:

  1. Modeling how climate shocks affect Madagascar’s economy and helping develop the Climate Prosperity Plan.
  2. Creating a comprehensive risk profile for multiple hazards, including cyclone, floods, drought, landslides, erosion, fires, red sandstorms, and locust invasions.
  3. Setting up a unified database to manage and utilize information on hazards, exposure, capacity, vulnerability, damage, and loss more effectively.
  4. Simulating floods caused by cyclones or adverse weather conditions.
  5. Predicting internal displacements due to both natural disasters and human-made hazards.

As part of this agreement, a country workshop and signing ceremony were held in Antananarivo to convene key officials and subject matter experts from Madagascar alongside representatives from the consortium service provider led by AXA Climate. Day one of this workshop aimed to delve deeper into Madagascar's requirements for model and data support of GRMA and to introduce the lead service provider and stakeholders to each other, a key step in launching the project implementation phase. Alongside AXA Climate as the primary service provider, the consortium comprises BRGM, a prominent French public institution specializing in Earth Science applications, and Artelia, a local consulting firm. The second day of the workshop provided a platform for dialogue with representatives from GRMA and the Global Shield initiative.

The Global Shield Board endorsed Madagascar as a Global Shield country in April this year, following a thorough prioritization process. Once the In-Country Process of the Global Shield will be launched in Madagascar, alignment between the Global Shield and GRMA will be established. Madagascar joining the Global Shield is a significant development and emphasizes Madagascar's commitment to building resilient communities capable of effectively navigating climate and disaster-related challenges. It also highlights the effectiveness of collaborative initiatives like the Global Shield and partnerships such as GRMA in addressing global climate resilience.

Dr. Annette Detken, Head of GRMA (Public Sector), said:

Being heavily affected by droughts, cyclones, flooding and landslides, Madagascar requires more tools and data to understand how climate change will affect its vulnerable population and economic development. The GRMA team is proud to support the Government of Madagascar to develop its own technical expertise in analysing the climate risks it faces. This will help our partners to better address the impacts of climate change, build its resilience and secure previous development achievements.

Colonel Remi Rolland RAKOTO ANDRIAMANALINARIVO, Executive Secretary of CPGU, said:

Madagascar is aware of its high vulnerability to various climatic hazards so that the Government has chosen to opt for a strategy aimed at gradually building resilience to promote its sustainable development. But it is difficult to properly work towards resilience without a good risk knowledge based on a well-founded methodology and also reliable, up-to-date and usable data for decision-making and planning. The collaboration with the GRMA programme arrives at the right time because it supports the initiatives taken by the Government in terms of promotion of financial protection mechanisms, in particular climate insurance. These efforts justify the realisation of the implementation of axis 4 of the National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management that calls for the development of the practice of knowledge and information management for the benefit of DRM/DRR. The Government of Madagascar would like to express its deep gratitude to the GRMA Program for agreeing to provide support to Madagascar in the implementation of this phase 1.

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Second Workshop of the Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA) Programme in Nigeria

Abuja, Nigeria

On April 25-26, 2024, key officials and subject matter experts gathered in Abuja for an in-country technical planning workshop aimed at enhancing Nigeria's resilience to climate change impacts through improved risk analytics. Hosted by the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), the workshop sought to follow up on Nigeria's request for model and data support under the Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA) and develop a comprehensive work program for project implementation. One strategic project on national scale fluvial flood hazard modelling, and two operational projects on modelling for agricultural drought and flood risk to disabled and vulnerable communities have been defined.

The workshop aimed to achieve several critical outcomes, including:

· Identification of, and collaboration with relevant stakeholders, ongoing projects focused on risk information and technical capacities for risk assessment in Nigeria.
· Agreement on project scope and work packages, accompanied by a roadmap for core and supporting institutions to respond to Nigeria's request for model and data support under the GRMA project.
· Enhanced understanding of Nigeria's Climate and Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance (CDRFI) priorities to contextualise the risk analytics support.

The outcomes of this workshop represent a significant step forward in Nigeria's efforts to increase its resilience to climate change impacts and underscore the country's commitment to collaborative solutions. By leveraging GRMA support, Nigeria is poised to strengthen its capacity to manage climate risks and protect vulnerable communities.

We are extremely grateful to our host the NCCC for their hospitality and support in ensuring the workshop’s success and to our colleagues from the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) & Vulnerable Twenty Group (V20), Insurance Development Forum and Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

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Second Workshop of the Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA) Programme in Costa Rica

San Jose, Costa Rica

A Country Workshop took place in San José on April 24-25, 2024, bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders. The event served as a forum for co-developing risk understanding for climate and disaster risk finance and insurance.

The primary objective of this workshop was to actively engage representatives from the Public Administration and experts from Costa Rica in response to Costa Rica's interest in receiving support with models and data under the GRMA programme. Within the workshop, a work program was developed to support the request submitted by SUGESE earlier this year.

The workshop aimed to achieve the following objectives:
· Finalise decisions on the strategic and operational projects that will receive support in models and data and capability development.
· Identify key institutions and support structures for the implementation of each project.

The workshop represented a significant step forward in Costa Rica's efforts to strengthen its resilience to natural disasters and other related risks.

Many thanks to our host the Superintendencia General de Seguros (SUGESE) for their invaluable contribution in ensuring the workshop’s success and to our colleagues from the Insurance Development Forum, Global Shield against Climate Risks, Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) & Vulnerable Twenty Group (V20), and Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) for their support and collaboration throughout the event.

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Launch: InsuResilience Solutions Fund Annual Report 2023

The InsuResilience Solutions Fund’s (ISF) Annual Report 2023 highlights the activities and developments of the Fund throughout the past five years, since its inception. We have made substantial progress in strengthening climate risk management, as well as Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI) architecture, globally.

2023 was a notable year in the context of climate change. For that, ISF made considerable progress in supporting climate risk insurance solutions to close the protection gap for vulnerable populations, recording a growing number of activities and reaching 65 unique projects in 34 countries.
We invite you to read about ouraccomplishments, endeavours, and lessons learned over the last five years: ISF Annual Report 2023
Together with our partners, we are striving to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities through climate risk management and insurance, even under the most challenging conditions.

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Flood protection for vulnerable areas in Togo

Frankfurt / Lomé

The ISF has signed a grant agreement to support the implementation of an index-based insurance product to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable populations against floods in three cities in Togo. The country is vulnerable to floods that significantly affect its infrastructure and disrupt its economic activity. The InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) is co-funding the implementation of the project along with AXA Climate, Pionniers en Action pour le Développement Intégré à l’Environnement (PADIE), and Howden.

Togo is divided into five regions and 35 prefectures, each with its unique administrative setup. Among these, the Golfe prefecture, situated in the southern part of the country, comprises seven divisions, centered around the bustling city of Lomé. Meanwhile, the Kloto prefecture's administrative center is the picturesque city of Kpalimé. The project targets households residing in flood-prone areas in Lomé and Kpalimé. The vulnerability of this demographic is underscored by recurrent severe floods across the country in recent years, resulting in loss of life, infrastructure damage, and economic losses. Given their exposure to floods within the context of socioeconomic poverty, these households encounter heightened risks and difficulties in managing the consequences of such climate-related disasters. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for implementing effective flood resilience strategies in these vulnerable areas.

In order to enhance the resilience of vulnerable populations against the impacts of flooding, the ISF signed a grant agreement with AXA Climate, as the project lead, PADIE, a local non-profit association, and Howden, an international reinsurance broker. The project objective is to enhance the ability of the municipalities of Kpalimé, Golfe 1 and Golfe 7 to respond to large-scale flood events with necessary emergency measures. Through the implementation of an index-based flood insurance solution, the initiative aims to strengthen financial preparedness for disasters and trigger a predefined contingency plan to aid vulnerable populations.

The proposed ISF project seeks to equip Kpalimé, Golfe 1, and Golfe 7 with comprehensive risk mapping, a prioritized list of recommended adaptation measures following cost-benefit analysis, and an index-based insurance mechanism to shield the municipalities from flood risks, ultimately benefiting the affected poor and vulnerable populations.

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Scaling up financial protection against disasters for vulnerable populations in Senegal

Frankfurt / Dakar

The ISF has signed a grant agreement to support the development and implementation of two risk transfer solutions for drought and flood to offer protection to vulnerable populations in Senegal. Senegal faces significant exposure to climate-related disasters, notably droughts and floods, which pose threats to the country’s stability, food security, and the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people. The InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) is co-funding the implementation of the project alongside Fonds de Solidarité National (FSN) and Gallagher Re.

Climate-related shocks and disasters disproportionately affect Senegal's poor and vulnerable. Agriculture, livestock rearing, and fishing serve as primary income sources for this segment, with earnings highly exposed to climate risks, impeding households' capacity to fulfill their food needs and exacerbating food insecurity.

In response to this challenge, the ISF signed a grant agreement and co-funds the project together with Fonds de Solidarité National (FSN), acting as project lead, and Gallagher Re, a private insurance broker. The goal is to offer protection to vulnerable populations in Senegal by developing and implementing two market-based risk transfer solutions for drought and flood. The project aims to strengthen climate resilience throughout the country.

FSN is a Public Administrative Institution that carries out national solidarity actions to scale up the financial response to crisis and emergency situations in Senegal. It provides support to distressed vulnerable populations affected by complex social, economic and disaster shocks requiring the intervention of public authorities. When a disaster occurs, FSN works with local actors such as the gendarmerie, social operators, and community development agents to identify affected populations and assess damages.
The proposed project aims to expand FSN’s financial resources in the aftermath of a drought or flood through the use of risk transfer instruments, ensuring fast payouts and effective disaster response. The project also aims to further develop FSN’s systems and capability for early warnings, accurate loss evaluation, and fast and reliable processing of compensations.

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Scaling up financial resilience against flood events in Morocco

Frankfurt / Rabat

The ISF has signed a grant agreement to support the implementation of an index-based flood risk transfer instrument to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable populations against flood events. Morocco’s exposure to flood risk is expected to worsen due to the expected effects of climate change, climate migration, and the growth of coastal cities, where vulnerable households bear a disproportionate impact. The InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) is co-funding the implementation of the project alongside the Fonds de Solidarité contre les Evènements Catastrophiques (FSEC), Gallagher Re, and Société Centrale de Réassurance (SCR).

With its diverse landscape, Morocco encounters the recurrent challenge of natural disasters, particularly along its expansive coastline. The country's susceptibility to events such as floods, exacerbated by rising sea levels, significantly impacts its coastal regions. With over half of the population and numerous industries situated along these vulnerable coastal areas, the looming threat of rising sea levels compounds the risk of floods.

In an effort to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable populations against these climate events, the ISF signed a grant agreement with Fonds de Solidarité contre les Evènements Catastrophiques (FSEC), as the project lead, Gallagher Re, an international reinsurance broker, and Société Centrale de Réassurance (SCR), a local reinsurance company. The project’s objective is to enhance the resilience of vulnerable and uninsured populations against flood risk by strengthening FSEC’s financial response through the use of an index-based flood risk transfer solution, supported by the installation of inundation sensors.

FSEC is a public-funded entity that provides partial compensation to those affected by disasters. The new insurance product will support FSEC to increase its financial capacities to provide compensation to uninsured vulnerable households in the event of a flood. FSEC will act as the policyholder and provide support to the risk modelling work. Gallagher Re and SCR will support the product design and provision of risk capital. The proposed flood risk transfer instrument will cover up to three pilot cities in Morocco.

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Workshop of the Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA) Programme in Nigeria

Abuja, Nigeria

A Country Workshop took place in Abuja on November 9-10, 2023, bringing together a diverse group of local and international stakeholders. The event served as a forum for addressing gaps in climate and disaster risk models, local data, and Nigeria's current capacities to enhance resilience.

The workshop aimed to involve key officials and subject matter experts from Nigeria in enhancing the country's understanding of risks. Various hazards of interest were discussed, including floods, droughts, and epidemics, as well as their impacts on food security, livelihoods, infrastructure, and others. Nigeria’s request for GRMA support would potentially enable the development of a national climate and disaster risk assessment, as well as the continuous monitoring of (sub-) national strategies related to climate and disaster risk management, including measures for risk reduction and finance.

Further consultations in upcoming months will follow to support Nigeria’s ongoing efforts to improve disaster preparedness and response.

We are extremely grateful to our host the National Council on Climate Change for their hospitality and support in ensuring the workshop’s success and to our colleagues from the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) & Vulnerable Twenty Group (V20), Insurance Development Forum and Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

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Workshop of the Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA) Programme in Costa Rica

San José, Costa Rica

On October 19-20, 2023, a Country Workshop took place in San José, bringing together a wide group of local and international stakeholders. The event provided a platform to discuss the ongoing landscape of climate and disaster risk efforts in the country, the existing capabilities, and the essential components of climate risk modeling.

The objective of the workshop was to engage key officials and subject matter experts from Costa Rica in developing the work programme for the support requested to strengthen the country’s capacities and actions for climate and disaster risk management.

For Costa Rica, it is important that this initiative nurtures local capacities and facilitates access to sustainable tools essential for autonomous risk assessment and understanding the resulting socio-economic impacts. Consequently, GRMA's support is focused on the following key areas:

  • Assessing existing gaps in relevant risk models and local data.
  • Determining the scope of support required for evaluating climate and disaster risk.
  • Developing local expertise to effectively apply relevant risk instruments and models.

After the initial workshop, further consultations will follow to support Costa Rica’s ongoing efforts to improve disaster preparedness and response.

Many thanks to our host the Superintendencia General de Seguros (SUGESE) for their invaluable contribution in ensuring the workshop’s resounding success and to our esteemed colleagues from the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF) & Vulnerable Twenty Group (V20), Insurance Development Forum and Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) for their support and collaboration throughout the event.

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Fostering Knowledge and Collaboration for Climate Resilience

Frankfurt

From October 10th to the 13th, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management hosted a fruitful gathering of international experts, stakeholders, and visionaries for our second Climate Risk Insurance - Product Development Training course.

Over 25 dedicated professionals, representing more than 15 countries, came together to delve into the intricacies of climate and disaster risk insurance development. And this convergence wasn't just an opportunity to gain knowledge; it was a platform to foster a global community committed to addressing these critical challenges.

Our gratitude goes to all the participants for their dedication and active involvement; to our panelists Fatma Dirkes, Dirk Steffes-Enn, Liam Carter, Anuj Kumbhat and Ralf Weiss, who provided profound insights into the relevance of climate and disaster risk insurance in the midst of our ever-evolving climate landscape: and to our exceptional trainers Dr. Gero Michel, Prof. Dr. David Bresch, Dr. Annette Detken, Eugen Doce, Olga Mursajew, Dr. Simon Wild, Dr. Arun Rana and Josh Ling for their significant expertise and guidance. Finally, many thanks to Frankfurt School Sustainable World Academy for their invaluable assistance in coordinating this incredible occasion.

As we reflect on this event's success, we are eager for more opportunities to solidify our collaboration with our esteemed partners. We would like to continue building a network of individuals and organizations that are poised to make a substantial impact while enhancing the resilience and adaptive capacity of developing and emerging countries in the face of climate change.

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Agriculture Insurance Scheme for Horticulture and Vegetables in Uzbekistan

Frankfurt / Uzbekistan

Farms in Uzbekistan and in particular Dehqan farmers, remain vulnerable and are severely affected by climate change. To protect these farmers from climate-related hazards, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) is co-funding the development and implementation of a multi-peril indemnity insurance product for horticulture and vegetables in Uzbekistan. The insurance solution is being developed by members of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF), working closely with local insurers, UNDP and the government of Uzbekistan.

Agriculture plays a crucial role in Uzbekistan’s economy, accounting for approximately 35-40% of the national GDP. This heavy reliance on agriculture makes the country highly susceptible to climate risks and natural disasters. Among the agricultural sector, Dehqan farmers, who occupy 13% of the cultivated land, contribute significantly (65%) to the gross agricultural output. Due to the size of their farms and the agriculture policies of Uzbekistan, most of those farmers are focusing in the horticulture sector. These farmers remain highly vulnerable to climate risks, which further negatively impacts their productivity.

In order to enhance the ability of horticulture farmers to withstand the impacts of climate change, two members of IDF, Europa Re and Swiss Re, and two local insurance companies, Uzagrosugurta and Semurg, are working to develop an agriculture insurance product for Uzbek farmers. The Ministry of Agriculture will closely collaborate in the project, and it will be supported by the UNDP country office. The ISF co-funds the project implementation and thereby helps to accelerate growth and enable the potential extension throughout the country. The Ministry of Agriculture has a keen interest in introducing a more effective and inclusive scheme that grants all farmers in the horticulture and vegetable sector access to insurance and, thus, increase their resilience to climate change. This marks a public-private partnership project under the Tripartite Agreement between the German government, IDF and UNDP to support risk-management solutions for climate-vulnerable countries.

During the initial year of the project, the team will conduct a pilot of the insurance products in Fergana, Namangan and Andijan oblast. In the following year, the project plans to expand the coverage by including additional types of fruits and/or vegetables.
An indemnity-based solution will compensate based on the real crop loss, evaluated by loss adjusters that will be trained during the project. This approach facilitates direct interaction with farmers, fostering the development of local insurance markets and knowledge transfer regarding risks and crops.

Nadica Jovanovska Boshkovska, Chief Project Officer at Europa RE, said:

Europa RE is privileged to work alongside the Uzbekistan Government and our local partners Uzagrosugurta and Semurg under the tripartite agreement programme (IDF/ISF/UNDP), which will ensure more stable livelihoods for small farmers in Uzbekistan.

Esther Baur, Head Europe at Swiss Re Public Sector Solutions, said:

Swiss Re is delighted to be playing a key role in the IDF/ISF/UNDP public-private insurance programme to protect climate-vulnerable horticulture farmers in Uzbekistan.

Eugen Doce, Co-head of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund, said:

ISF anticipates that the insurance against climate risk will support farmers to lower the risks in the horticulture and grow investments into this sector, hence stabilise and grow their income and contribute to the development of the agriculture sector in general in line with the development goals of the country.

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Insurance for the Disaster Response Emergency Fund

Building Resilience Together: Harnessing the power of insurance for silent disasters

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the largest humanitarian organization with operations in 191 countries. The IFRC acts before, during and after disasters and health emergencies to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people. The organization administers the Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF), which is a multilaterally funded, rapid response mechanism that provides funding directly to local humanitarian actors both before and immediately after a crisis hits. To develop a new instrument aimed at increasing DREF’s ability to respond to more natural disaster events, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) is co-funding the development and implementation of a climate risk solution. The project is being co-developed by IFRC, Aon and the Centre for Disaster Protection (the Centre) and supported by international donors UK FCDO, British Red Cross, Danish Red Cross, and the private sector.

Today, the impact of climate change is seen in the rapidly rising tide of small and medium size disasters, which are occurring more frequently with increasing intensity, affecting vulnerable communities disproportionately. Research from the 2020 IFRC World Disaster’s Report found that over the past ten years, 83% of all disasters triggered by natural hazards were caused by extreme weather and climate-related events. Local and rapid responses are increasingly necessary, but often National Red Cross or Red Crescent Societies in disaster-hit countries lack the resources or capacity to respond, especially when tackling multiple crises.

In response to this urgent challenge, IFRC is leading an ambitious project in collaboration with Aon, a leading global professional services firm, and the Centre. The goal is to offer insurance that provides additional financial support to the DREF Fund. DREF is already financing emergency relief costs after climate events through the National Societies (NS) established in developing countries. The insurance coverage will be available for natural hazards, including flood, earthquake, wildfire, droughts, and hurricanes in ODA countries.

The IFRC recognizes that relying solely on traditional grant funding is insufficient, and therefore intends to develop innovative financing solutions for the DREF.

Nena Stoiljkovic, Under Secretary General for Global Relations, Humanitarian Diplomacy and Digitalization said:

This first-of-its-kind partnership leveraging government donors and bringing the humanitarian and private sectors, unlocks powerful sustainable financing solutions to global humanitarian challenges. At IFRC, we are aiming to reach more disaster-affected people in communities, and this innovative insurance tool for our DREF paves the way for greater impact and efficiency.

To achieve ambitious growth, the IFRC plans to diversify its sources of funding and introduce insurance as a way to secure additional financial support. The long-term goal is to make insurance a permanent part of the funding strategy for the DREF, providing a safety net for emergencies, and expanding insurance coverage for all DREF allocations. This will ensure smooth support from DREF to NS in coming years.

Eugen Doce, co-head of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund, said:

IFRC’s intention to enhance and complement DREF’s capacities when hit by climate-related hazards is a unique opportunity to bring development work closer to the humanitarian work and pilot climate risk insurance as a means for enhancing humanitarian aid activities. The ISF is proud to co-fund this innovative programme adding capacity to improve the resilience for vulnerable people in many parts of the globe.

Eric Andersen, president of Aon, said:

Through an Aon United approach, we have brought capabilities across the firm to help ensure DREF can allocate funds when communities need it the most. Through an innovative re/insurance solution, we can access reinsurance capital using the capabilities of Aon’s Captive and Insurance Management team.”
“In addition, we are developing probabilistic risk models for climate risk related to flood and drought, as volatile weather events increase in both frequency and severity. We are pleased to collaborate with the IFRC, ISF and CDP, and that our deep expertise can help enable access to new forms of capital to better support humanitarian efforts and maximize the impact in communities around the world.”

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Launch: InsuResilience Solutions Fund Annual Report 2022

The InsuResilience Solutions Fund’s (ISF) Annual Report 2022 highlights the activities and developments of the Fund throughout the past year. We have made substantial progress in strengthening climate risk management, as well as Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI) architecture, globally.

2022 was a year marked simultaneously by large scale climate disasters, and groundbreaking global commitments towards addressing climate-related loss and damage. In this context, ISF made considerable progress in supporting climate risk insurance solutions to close the protection gap for vulnerable populations, recording a growing number of activities and reaching 49 projects in 27 countries to date.
2022 also marked the launch of the Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA), and the start of its first project, which aims to develop climate risk modelling capabilities in Pakistan together with its Ministry of Climate Change.
We invite you to read about our key developments, achievements, and lessons learned throughout the past year: ISF Annual Report 2022
Together with our partners, we are striving to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable communities through climate risk management and insurance, even under the most challenging conditions.

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Country Workshop on the GRMA offer to Madagascar brings together stakeholders to discuss existing and required climate risk modelling capabilities in-country

Antananarivo, Madagascar

A Country Workshop was held in Antananarivo on Feb 22-23, 2023, which brought together over 70 participants from public, private and civil society sectors over the course of two days. The event offered a platform to discuss the status quo on climate risk analysis (CRA), capacities, and needs in relation to climate risk modelling to enhance resilience in Madagascar.

The workshop was followed by an international coordination meeting with CDRFI stakeholders active in Madagascar, with the goal to leverage synergies under the Global Shield framework. During the week, further bilateral meetings were held with key stakeholders to discuss GRMA support in further detail. These included Cellule de Prevention et de la Gestion des Urgences (CPGU), Instat (National Institute of Statistics), FTM (National Institute of Cartography), BNGRC (National Bureau of DRM), DGM (General Directorate of Meteorology), BNCC REDD+/MEDD (Ministry of Environment), and Ministry of Finance.

The objective of the workshop was to engage key officials and subject matter experts in Madagascar, to develop the work programme of support requested within the expression of interest submitted to the InsuResilience Solutions Fund Management by Madagascar’s Cellule de Prévention et d’appui à la Gestion des Urgences (CPGU) in January 2023. Primary discussions during the workshop revolved around how to achieve the following targets:

  1. Strengthening long-term local capacities in risk understanding.
  2. Co-developing clear (sub-) national risk priorities for application to disaster risk reduction, adaptation and CDRFI, as well as own (sub-) national climate and disaster risk management strategies.
  3. Capacity building on modelling techniques and data acquisition: enable sustainable access to open risk modelling data and tools through practical learning / experience.
  4. Identifying and finalising work packages, institutions, technical experts for implementing the GRMA program.

During the workshop, the GRMA team together with participants identified the need for threefold support:

  1. Good quality and more granular risk and impact information to help with targeted disaster risk response and planning of appropriate prevention measures.
  2. Development of locally impact models for the hazards along with macro-economic analysis in face of disaster.
  3. Assistance to better understand of projected climate impacts and possible benefits of adaptation and risk-transfer solutions paving path for the Climate Prosperity Plans.

Further consultations with stakeholders were conducted during the GRMA team visit in the country to identify the needs and develop a roadmap for GRMA activities in the country. The GRMA team is to co-develop concrete pathways for GRMA implementation and support to the country with partners, which would form the basis of the forthcoming GRMA application from Madagascar.

The GRMA team is grateful to its hosts in the Cellule de Prevention et de la Gestion des Urgences (CPGU) who helped make this workshop a huge success.

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Resilient and Sustainable Communities and Climate Action through Digital Solutions

Frankfurt / Manila

The Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate risk disasters, maintaining the highest rank in succession according to the INFORM Index (category natural hazards). Common floods, droughts, typhoons, landslides, earthquakes and volcano eruptions pose great risk to the lives and livelihood of the Filipino population, especially in the agricultural sector which employs more than 25 % of the country’s labour force. Major crops cultivated by cooperatives and farmer-members are rice, maize, coffee, cacao and other high value and staple crops. The farmers, and especially the smallholder ones, remain vulnerable as the agricultural sector lacks scientific crop advisories in order to achieve sustainability and greater ability to invest in techniques supporting a resilient development.

In order to contribute to the objective of increasing the smallholder farmers’ resilience, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), managed by Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (FS), and financed by KfW Development Bank on behalf of the German Government (BMZ), signed a grant agreement with CLIMBS Life and General Insurance Cooperative (CLIMBS), acting as project lead and risk taker, The Alliance of Biodiversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), providing analysis of climate and yield data and farmers’ risk exposure, and the InsurTech IBISA Network S.A. (IBISA), responsible for the product design and pricing. Based on the agreement, ISF will co-fund the refinement of existing structures, extend the existing excess rain and wind speed insurance products to new provinces as well as the development and pricing of a new index-based insurance product for drought. Furthermore, sales and marketing activities, and risk and impact assessments are included.

The Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) is mandated with the national agricultural insurance scheme and offers, amongst others, multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI) products for most crops cultivated in the Philippines. PCIC is responsible to prioritise offering insurance to smallholder farmers registered under the Registry System for Basic Sectors in Agriculture (RSBSA, Registry for Poor Farmers) who receive 100% in subsidies, while larger self-insuring farmers have access to 55% subsidy. PCIC’s annual reports show an upward trend in farmers’ subscription to crop insurance, however the programme is highly dependent on government subsidies which increases year after year resulting in the programme needing external assistance or partnering. To tackle this issue, the Government appeals to the private insurance sector to enter the market in order to reduce the financial burden.

With this project, the Project Partners aim to answer the Government’s call and support the development of the national insurance market, leveraging CLIMBS extensive network of more than 4,000 cooperatives. The weather index-based product developed by the Project Partners providing coverage against excessive rainfall insures the cooperatives’ loan portfolio. Additionally, a drought product will be developed and launched to cover farmers indirectly. Cooperatives will act as the policyholders and pay the premium on behalf of their members, introducing and promoting the insurance products to the farmers. In case of a weather event triggering the index, the cooperatives are responsible for the distribution of payouts. Climate insurance is embedded in a wider climate risk management system including other decision support tools and instruments such as crop suitability and flood risk maps and crop advisory (e.g. use of stress-tolerant varieties, intercropping and use of organic fertilisers). Based on the knowledge gained from the pilot project, the Project Partners aim to develop a decision-making tool for cooperatives to facilitate the distribution of compensation to farmers by taking into account which members are or have been most affected by the insured event. With regard to the target region, up to 60 provinces of the Philippines will be targeted, starting with Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Misamis Occidental, Leyte, Negros Occidental, Eastern Samar, Biliran, Palawan, Samar, Northern Samar, Cebu, Aklan, Southern Leyte , Agusan del Norte, and Bohol.

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The GRMA Programme successfully kicks off in Pakistan with a multi-stakeholder Country Workshop

A Country Workshop was held in Islamabad on Dec. 8-9, 2022, which brought together over 60 participants from public, private and civil society sectors. The event offered a platform to discuss the status quo on climate risk analysis (CRA), capacities, and needs in relation to climate risk modelling to enhance resilience in Pakistan.

The workshop was followed by an international coordination meeting with CDRFI stakeholders active in Pakistan, with the goal to leverage synergies under the Global Shield framework. During the week, further bilateral meetings were held with key stakeholders to discuss GRMA support in further detail. These included the Pakistan Metreological Department (PMD), National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR), National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC), National Health Services Academy, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Ministry of Climate Change (MOCC).

In the initial application to the GRMA programme, the Ministry of Climate Change articulated a request for support to enhance sovereign understanding of risks from drought, heat, landslides, flood and earthquakes on a range of key sectors, including agriculture, construction, disaster relief, education, healthcare, public infrastructure, etc. The purpose of the workshop was therefore to work together with local stakeholders to:

  • Develop a draft roadmap including final project scope for the GRMA project.
  • Form a common understanding on the scope of the request for support, the GRMA programme and proposed project.
  • Gain an improved understanding of existing risk information, technical capacity, and analytical activities in Pakistan.

During the workshop, the GRMA team together with participants identified the need for threefold support:

  1. Good quality and more granular risk data to help with targeted disaster risk response and planning of appropriate prevention measures.
  2. Development of locally adjusted models for requested hazards.
  3. Assistance to better understand of projected climate impacts and possible benefits of adaptation and risk-transfer solutions to guide, incentivize, and accelerate public and private sector investments for a climate-resilient transformation.

Further consultations with provincial and local stakeholders, as well as a national stocktake on CRA, are planned in upcoming weeks. An innovative Training-of-Trainings approach is further under discussion to enhance capabilities in the area of climate risk analysis.

The GRMA team is grateful to its hosts in the Pakistan Ministry of Climate Change, and for support colleagues in the GIZ Pakistan SAR Project.

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PRESS RELEASE | COP27: Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA) Selected as Key Resource for the Global Shield Initiative; further EUR 10 million funding provided; Pakistan Announced as first Pathfinder Country

Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

The Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA), a joint public-private technical assistance programme with a mission to address the global imbalance in access to climate and disaster risk information, announces today a series of major milestones in its global deployment amid strong momentum at the 27th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP27) in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

  • The Global Shield against Climate Risks cooperation led by the G7 and the V20 Group of Ministers of Finance of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (V20) has identified the Global Risk Modelling Alliance as a key resource, particularly during initial in-country climate risk assessments and subsequent capacity building. The Global Shield Initiative aims to build domestic, regional and international markets to handle climate risks in a highly effective way and to encourage a system that delivers the objective of resilience to economies and climate justice to communities.
  • The German Government through the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), today confirmed funding for the GRMA of EUR 10 million. This is part of its EUR 170 million commitment towards Loss and Damage and the Global Shield. Administered via the InsuResilience Solutions Fund, the GRMA will be able to scale up its support to six further countries. This follows the initial EUR 11 million in funding announced in February, 2022. for an initial four countries.
  • Pakistan has been announced as the first partner country deploying the GRMA. The GRMA aims at strengthening climate and disaster risk insights and will support Pakistan’s development of its first National Adaptation Plan and its first Long Term Climate Strategy.
  • The V20 has adopted GRMA within its Climate Prosperity Plan as a starting point to mobilise resources for the implementation of a new pathway to secure maximed financial protection for V20 economies, enterprises and communities.

Ekhosuehi Iyahen, Secretary General of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF), said:

I am delighted with the progress and impact of the GRMA that we are announcing at COP27, showing significant momentum behind our mission to offer countries to level up and accelerate access to risk knowledge. Through country-led, co-designed risk programmes the GRMA will share practical industry knowledge, open data and technology. Countries will strengthen sovereign and city capabilities in risk insight, for application to policy development, adaptation planning, and disaster risk reduction.
The shortage of climate and disaster risk information inhibits the confidence needed for investment and risk finance focused on resilience, leaving vulnerable communities exposed. The GRMA addresses this global imbalance, and pools the best of global and local, public and private risk understanding.Indeed, during the development of the Global Shield concept, the GRMA has been identified as a key resource, particularly during initial in-country risk assessments and subsequent capacity building.
The announcements made during COP27 are testament to the tangible impact that this joint public-private technical assistance programme offers. Nick Moody, as Coordinator of the IDF Risk Modelling Steering Group, has been determined and ambitious in driving progress with the GRMA, and we are also grateful to the V20 Group and the InsuResilience Solutions Fund for their outstanding partnership in this important initiative. Our next steps after COP27 will see us continue to catalyse collaborations with sovereigns. We can’t wait.

German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze said:

This year, the suffering caused by the climate crisis in Pakistan has reached historic dimensions. Pakistan may well be the most powerful illustration of why the losses and damages that have already been caused by climate change are such an urgent issue for the climate conference.
It is quite appropriate that Pakistan is one of the pathfinder countries for the Global Shield against Climate Risks which we developed together with the most vulnerable countries. The Shield's work starts from a thorough analysis of climate risks. Governments that know their risks can prepare better and minimise damage to the greatest possible extent. So it is good that Pakistan will be the first country under the Global Shield to gather the necessary climate data and build the knowledge needed for that.

Dr. Annette Detken, Head of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund and public sector lead of the GRMA programme, stressed that the GRMA team will support Pakistan in strengthening its own capacities in measuring expected impacts of climate change and thus being better prepared for future disastrous events, adding:

Given the significant losses and damages caused by climate change, GRMA will support Pakistan to identify adaptation measures and climate risk finance options best suited for respective risks across different provinces and districts of Pakistan.
Germany has committed an initial EUR 11 million to the GRMA programme, and I am very happy to announce that we will increase our support to the GRMA by another EUR 10 million this year as a further contribution to the Global Shield against Climate Risks.
Starting right now with Pakistan demonstrates that the Global Shield against Climate Risks puts words into action – just days after its launch here at COP27.

Sara Jane Ahmed, V20 Finance Advisor, said:

The GRMA can be a key starting point to unlock the full potential of the Global Shield against Climate Risks for pre-arranged and trigger based financing and to complement these efforts with a doubling of adaptation.
The GRMA can support and underpin efforts of the V20’s Climate Prosperity Plans to maximise opportunities to adapt and build resilience.

Photo (left to right): Nick Moody, Coordinator of the IDF Risk Modelling Steering Group; Ekhosuehi Iyahen, IDF Secretary General; German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze; Minister Sherry Rehman from the Pakistan Ministry of Climate Change; Dr. Annette Detken, Head of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund and public sector lead of the GRMA programme; Dr. Saima Shafique, Director Pakistan Ministry of Climate Change.

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Flood risk cover for Lagos State in Nigeria

Frankfurt / Lagos

As a consequence of Climate change, flood risk is increasing in Lagos State, the main driver of economic growth in Nigeria, leading to major damage to buildings, houses, and critical infrastructure and leaving families displaced. The majority of Lagos State’s population is settled in flood-prone areas, thus being put at increasing risk. With the aim to provide protection to the affected people and SMEs, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) is co-funding the development and implementation of a new sub-sovereign index-based insurance solution promoted by a project consortium formed by members of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) in close cooperation with Lagos State government.

To improve the resilience of the currently uninsured and vulnerable population of Lagos State to flood events, a new project consortium is formed by the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) to promote the development of a sub-sovereign insurance solution. Today, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (FS), managing the ISF, signed a grant funding agreement with the project consortium partners. This marks a public-private partnership project under the Tripartite Agreement between the German government, IDF and UNDP to support risk-management solutions for climate-vulnerable countries.

In cooperation with the Office of Governor of Lagos State, the Ministry of Finance, and Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), the project will be co-led by AXA Climate and Swiss Re, and further includes the local insurer AXA Mansard, African Risk Capacity Ltd. (ARC Ltd.), JBA Risk Management (JBA) and ICEYE. Complementary activities will be provided by UNDP Nigeria, UNDP Insurance and Risk Finance Facility and African Risk Capacity Agency. Depending on the State’s decision on the strategy to be developed within the ISF project, Lagos State populations affected by flood will benefit either directly or indirectly from the insurance solution by receiving emergency relief like cash payouts, food, and aid.

Picture source: CNN

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Livelihood Protection for Rural Communities in Colombia

Frankfurt / Bogotá

Historically, natural disaster events have affected the agricultural sector of Colombia, a larger contributor to the economy with 6.1% of the GDP and 16.3% of the total employment. Expected temperature increase in combination with changes to hydrology causing a reduction of rainfall will present a significant economic and social problem leading to shortage of water in the high lands, and more frequent floods in coastal areas. In order to protect stability and ensure sustainable growth to the benefit of vulnerable rural populations dependent on agriculture, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) is co-funding the development and implementation of a complementary sovereign index-based insurance solution promoted by a project consortium formed by members of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) in close cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture.

To improve the resilience of the currently uninsured poor and vulnerable rural population of several Colombian departments against drought and extreme rainfall events, a new project consortium is formed by the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) members and Raincoat to promote the development of a complementary insurance solution. Today, Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (FS), managing the ISF, signed a grant funding agreement with the project consortium partners. This marks a public-private partnership project under the Tripartite Agreement between the German government, IDF and UNDP to support risk-management solutions for climate-vulnerable countries.

Co-led by Guy Carpenter Colombia and Swiss Re, the project partners Munich Re, AXA Climate, and Raincoat will join forces to develop an insurance solution for lack and excess of rainfall to complement existing social protection and national insurance schemes to the benefit of vulnerable households in rural areas starting in the departments of Choco, La Guajira, Meta and Cundinamarca. The latter represent the departments with the highest levels of extreme poverty in the country where primarily banana, potatoes, palm oil, corn, rice, soy and coffee are cultivated. In case of a catastrophic weather event, beneficiaries of the insurance solution will receive a direct payment through platforms used by the Ministry of Agriculture for other social programmes, and thus will have access to cash to cover their immediate needs and resume their productive activities as soon as possible.

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German Parliamentary State Secretary Dr. Bärbel Kofler meeting smallholder farmers of ISF project in Bangladesh

On 31 October 2022, Dr. Bärbel Kofler, Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) met with smallholder farmers benefiting from insurance cover developed within the ISF project “ Boosting agriculture risk mitigation in Bangladesh through index insurance for smallholders”. In the session with Dr. Kofler insured farmers shared their experience on the impact and change the climate risk insurance is bringing to their lives.

The ISF project was introduced by Olga Speckhardt, Head of Global Insurance Solutions at Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, and Mr Michael Sumser, Director KfW Bangladesh, with KfW as funder of the ISF on behalf of BMZ. The ISF is proud to see that the project is already reaching more than 500,000 smallholder farmers and is scaling up further beyond the 14 districts of Bangladesh covered so far. Implemented by the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture in collaboration with BRAC, the world’s largest NGO and microfinance institution, and Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd (GDIC), the largest non-life insurance company of Bangladesh, this project aims to improve smallholders’ resilience to climate change by providing suitable insurance products in order to improve lives and livelihoods for those who need it most. Co-funding the development of needs-based insurance products the ISF is joining forces with the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC), which financially supports the project within its Surokkha initiative.

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Climate insurance for smallholder farmers in Indonesia (CISFI)

Frankfurt / Jakarta

InsuResilience Solutions Fund supports the development of a new index-based insurance product for vulnerable maize and rice farmers in several Indonesian regencies.

The archipelagic state of Indonesia is one of the most vulnerable countries to natural hazards with high exposure to extreme weather events like earthquake, tsunami and cyclones. Further threat to farmers stems from prolonged periods of severe drought – as a recent example, in 2019 more than 50 million people were affected by a long-running drought with emergencies declared in numerous provinces.

Although the country experiences rapid economic growth, the livelihood of smallholder farmers, who represent the majority of the agriculture workforce, remains low due to limited access to capital and agricultural technologies, limited knowledge of proper agricultural practices and access to farming risk management tools, among other reasons, leaving them highly exposed and vulnerable to climate risk related shocks.

In order to contribute to the objective of increasing the smallholder farmers’ resilience, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), managed by the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (FS), and financed by KfW Development Bank on behalf of the German Government, signed a grant agreement with PT Mandiri AXA General Insurance (MAGI), the joint venture company between PT Bank Mandiri (Persero), Tbk and AXA ASIA; AXA Emerging Customers (AXA S.A.), AXA Climate, acting as reinsurance partner and broker, PT Jiva Agriculture (Jiva), a subsidiary of high-quality input provider OLAM providing high-quality inputs, advisory services, access to input loans and sell offtakes, and Yayasan Agri Sustineri Indonesia (YASI), a local non-profit organisation working on social and humanitarian matters, particularly focusing on promoting sustainable agriculture and improving the livelihoods and welfare of Indonesian smallholder farmers, and within the project responsible for capacity building and training of distribution channels. Based on the agreement ISF will co-fund the design and refinement of the climate risk insurance product, the setup of distribution channels, training of distribution partners, the collection of farmers’ field data, the development of marketing materials and awareness raising activities.

Between 2016 and 2019, the government of Indonesia offered an indemnity-based insurance product for rice with damage being estimated by loss adjusters on individual field level leading to delayed claims processes. Within the project period, only 3.8% of rice fields were covered by the governmental insurance scheme. With this project, the Project Partners aim to support the development of the national market responding to the Ministry of National Development Planning’s appeal to spur commercialised agricultural insurance. The insurance product will be offered through Jiva’s platform where insurance will be bundled with loans, through agents as last mile delivery, through MAGI’s microfinance institutions partners offering the insurance bundled with working capital credit and access to inputs and offtakers, and through YASI’s supported farmers’ hubs “Pancer Tani”. The project will start in the regencies of Gowa, Jeneponto, Bantaeng, Bone and Takalar, Karawang, and Indramayu with the potential be upscaled to cover more regions in the future.

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Café Seguro: Climate protection for smallholder coffee farmers

Frankfurt / Bogotá

InsuResilience Solutions Fund supports a new project in Colombia for the upscale and improvement of an index-based climate protection coffee insurance solution for vulnerable smallholder farmers in Caldas and Antioquia regions to expand its reach to include Huila, Cauca and Nariño.

Based on the INFORM Index, Colombia ranks among the top twenty countries vulnerable to natural hazards with high exposure to extreme weather events like earthquake, tsunami and floods. Farmers experience prolonged dry spells, excess rainfall as well as delayed onset of rainfall, pests and other diseases, further enhanced by weather patterns of El Niño and La Niña. Putting a lot of pressure especially on the agricultural sector, it is the smallholder farmers that are most vulnerable and exposed to an increasingly difficult climate situation straining their resilience.

Contributing to the crucial objective of increasing the smallholder farmers’ resilience, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), managed by the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (FS), and financed by KfW Development Bank on behalf of the German Government, signed a grant agreement with Blue Marble, the local insurance company Seguros Bolivar and Fundación Local Partners which is supporting Colombian farmers to deliver sustainable coffee to the roasting industry. Based on the agreement ISF will co-fund the refinement of the climate risk insurance product, the on-boarding of additional aggregators and respective customisation of the insurance product, the development of digital interfaces and technical operation environment, customer education awareness raising campaigns and capacity building in view of climate smart agricultural practices.

Coffee is Colombia’s second export commodity, however there is no systematic offer of insurance for coffee farmers. Of the approx. 555,000 coffee farmers, the vast majority are smallholders producing exclusively as a source of income for whom a loss of harvest due to extreme weather events can have catastrophic effects on their livelihood. To strengthen the development of the Colombian agricultural insurance market, the partners launched an index-based insurance “Café Seguro” against drought and excess rainfall. The innovative character of the Café Seguro product, which will now be upscaled to other regions, lies in catering to the specific agronomic needs of coffee and being designed in close cooperation with the coffee farmers themselves. In case of an event, payouts will be provided directly to the farmers without the need for a claim’s report or on-the-ground loss assessment.

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Parametric flood cover for the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area

Frankfurt / Accra

Climate change puts additional strains on governments and populations, especially the vulnerable when there are no or insufficient emergency relief measures available. With the aim to insure the urban population of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) against flash floods and excessive rainfall, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) is co-funding the development and implementation of a (sub-) sovereign parametric insurance solution promoted by a project consortium formed by members of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) in close cooperation with the Ghanaian government.

Ghana is highly exposed to both river and flash floods with experiencing several major flood events in recent centuries. The severe flood event of 2015 was reported as among the ten deadliest disasters worldwide in said year, added causing severe damage to (critical) infrastructure. A rapid expansion of sealed-off surface, unplanned urbanisation, weak infrastructure, inefficient waste collection and disposal systems together with a changing climate causing more and more intense rainfall events especially put the poor and vulnerable urban population at even greater risk.

To improve the resilience of Accra’s population to flash floods and rainfall events, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), managed by Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (FS), and financed by KfW Development Bank on behalf of the German Government, signed a Grant Agreement with the IDF members Allianz SE and Swiss Re and further partners Allianz Insurance Company of Ghana (Allianz Ghana) and HKV BV (HKV) to promote the development of a (sub-) sovereign insurance solution and thereby helping to accelerate growth and enable the potential extension throughout the country. This marks a public-private partnership project under the Tripartite Agreement between the German government, IDF and UNDP to support risk-management solutions for climate-vulnerable countries.

The Ministry of Finance in Ghana strongly supports the insurance scheme where through the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) emergency relief measures as well as contingency plans will be implemented timely to mitigate the impact of floods. The Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) will be the third government stakeholder providing data for the modelling of the insurance structure. The new national insurance programme will be jointly designed by the re/insurance companies Allianz SE, Allianz Ghana and Swiss Re, the satellite data provider ICEYE, the consultancy firm HKV providing knowledge on flood risk and water resource management, as well as Flood Tags, providing weather monitoring via social media.

Serving as a role model for a potential upscale to the entire country, the project will enhance the response capacity of the NADMO and other government stakeholders in severe flood cases to provide emergency support to vulnerable low-income communities in the GAMA, and is expected to further support government climate adaptation measures by enhancing data availability and risk know-how to allow for better disaster risk planning.

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Building climate resilient agro-ecosystems of smallholder farming

Frankfurt / New Delhi

InsuResilience Solutions Fund supports the upscale and improvement of an index-based crop insurance and indemnity-based livestock solution for vulnerable smallholder farmers in six Indian states to increase their resilience against extreme weather events.

India ranks among the top five countries vulnerable to natural hazards with high exposure to extreme weather events like floods, earthquakes, cyclones and droughts. In addition, climate models indicate an all-around increase in temperature and rainfall variability across the country. This puts a lot of pressure on the agriculture sector of India, especially on the 78 per cent of overall farmers being smallholders. Thus, it is crucial to build resilience of smallholder farmers to climate change and the risk involved in farming by encouraging them to adopt advanced climate-smart agriculture innovations.

Contributing to this objective, InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), managed by the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (FS), and financed by KfW Development Bank on behalf of the German Government, signed a grant agreement with the local Development of Human Action (DHAN) Foundation, DHAN International, an initiative established by DHAN Foundation, People Mutuals, registered as a trust under Indian law andacting as a mutual insurance initiative and IBISA, a private Insurtech company. Based on the agreement ISF will co-fund the refinement of the climate risk insurance products, the establishment of risk management centres as well as trainings and capacity building. The project aims to improve the resilience of more than 400,000 farmers in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Maharastra against drought, extreme rainfall and other climate risks.

The index-based crop insurance and indemnity-based livestock insurance products have been developed and piloted by the Project Partners between 2019 and 2021 with increasing numbers of farmers covered. The support of ISF allows to refined and expand the insurance products to be benefit of small holder farmers. DHAN, People Mutuals and IBISA aim to specifically reach the poor and vulnerable smallholder farmers cultivating crops and raising livestock that are difficult to reach by other safety net programmes or insurance products or have been excluded from the same up until now. The offered insurance system will be complemented by farm risk management advice and has the potential to overcome main weaknesses of the national Agricultural Insurance Program (PMFBY) by providing compensation faster in case of an insurance event, being crop agnostic and additionally being offered as a stand-alone product. The livestock insurance can be used as collateral and by offering to pre-finance premium via loans, the project contributes to increase farmers’ access to finance.

The Project Partners leverage the institutional set up of the Federation Mutuals. As trusts owned and governed by the farmers themselves the Federal Mutuals act as mutual risk sharing groups securing the strongly demand-driven approach complementing the insurance cover with knowledge transfer and education about smart farming as well as risk mitigation and coping strategies.

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Building Resilience of Smallholder Farmers in India with Yield Assurance

Frankfurt / New Delhi

InsuResilience Solutions Fund supports innovative yield guarantee solution for Indian smallholder farmers to incentivise climate smart agricultural practices and contribute to increased resilience against extreme weather events.

India ranks among the top five countries vulnerable to natural hazards with high exposure to extreme weather events like floods, earthquakes, cyclones and droughts. In addition, climate models indicate an all-around increase in temperature and rainfall variability across the country. This puts a lot of pressure on the agriculture sector of India, especially on smallholders who make 78 percent of the country's farmers. Thus, it is crucial to build resilience of smallholder farmers to climate change and the risk involved in farming by encouraging them to adopt advanced climate-smart agriculture innovations.

To support this objective, InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), managed by the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (FS), and financed by KfW Development Bank, signed a grant agreement with Weather Risk Management Services (WRMS), an agriculture risk management company, and INGEN Technologies, a data provider of weather stations, to co-fund the project development and implementation of the yield assurance solution. The project aims to improve the resilience of 100,000 smallholder farmers in India against climate risks and incentivise smart agricultural risk management practices, as well as to scale up the yield guarantee solution for crops such as cotton, chili, paddy, wheat and potato.

Weather Risk Management Services (WRMS) offers SecuFarm - the world’s first smart and sustainable farming solution for smallholders to provide them with farm level yield guarantee and an assured income. The solution guarantees farmers a benchmark yield provided they follow the Package of Practice (PoP) shared with them on the SecuFarm app. If the actual yield is still below the benchmark yield due to any extreme weather attack or crop disease, the farmer is compensated by WRMS, in proportion to the shortfall. This innovative concept allows incorporation of the necessary farm level risk reduction measures in the insurance product design offered by insurance companies and incentivizes smart and sustainable farming practices. This in turn allows to offer premium discount or a higher guaranteed yield to farmers who take the necessary farm level risk management measures. Fees for the yield guarantee are paid by the farmers (without subsidies).

WRMS has offered SecuFarm solution to more than 25,000 farmers in 22 states of India till date. While in certain states farmers are contracted directly by WRMS, in some states the company connects with farmers by partnering with farmer producer companies, agriculture input companies and local banks.

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Scaling Up Crop Insurance for Smallholder Farmers in Ethiopia

Frankfurt / Addis Ababa

A new project in Ethiopia up scales innovative vegetation-index crop insurance for smallholder farmers and combines it with a cloud micro-insurance and payment platform to increase drought resilience of vulnerable populations.

For a large proportion of Ethiopia's rural population, smallholder agriculture is the predominant activity. Smallholder farms indirectly support about 70 percent of the population and contribute to more than 40 percent of the country's GDP. The El Niño-related drought of 2015 led to one of the greatest food insecurities ever recorded for more than 10 million people in Ethiopia. To protect smallholder farmers from income shocks arising from severe and catastrophic weather risks, particularly drought, a partnership of local and international stakeholders has formed to offer farmers access to climate risk insurance.

Ethiopian InsurTech provider and project leader Kifiya Financial Technology partnered with the public Ethiopian Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), and the local Oromia Insurance Company as risk taker to develop a vegetation index crop insurance product. This insurance product was prototyped in 2016, and piloted over the following two years. So far, 12,000 smallholder farmers have purchased the product and around 5,300 farmers have received payouts.

To adapt the insurance product with lessons learned and scale it up, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), managed by Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (FS), and financed by KfW Development Bank, has signed a grant agreement with the partnership. ISF is providing co-funding for the product development and implementation of the agricultural insurance solution.

The product is distributed through village insurance promoters, who primarily provide information and educate smallholders about the insurance options available. Agents of financial institutions, unions and cooperatives then sell the product and collect the premiums. This dual point of contact helps to improve farmers' understanding of the product.

In addition, the insurance product is combined with innovative IT solutions. A cloud micro-insurance platform supports insurance companies in digitally managing insurance policies and claims, helping to reduce operational administration costs. Moreover, insurance companies can reach out to their potential customers through agents located in their vicinity. Another feature of the IT solution is a payment platform. Through an app, sales agents can make payouts to farmers or the insurance company can transfer money directly to farmers' bank accounts.

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Agricultural Insurance for Smallholder Farmers in Mexico

Frankfurt / Mexico City

Climate change puts vulnerable farmers in Mexico at risk. With the aim to insure smallholder farmers against drought and excessive rainfall, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) is co-funding the development and implementation of a sovereign parametric insurance solution. The insurance solution is being promoted by a project consortium formed by members of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) in close cooperation with the Mexican government.

In Mexico, over 80% of total economic losses from weather-related disasters in the last two decades occurred in the agricultural sector. Smallholder farmers are hit hardest as they practice rain-fed agriculture and have less access to technology, formal credit and commercial agricultural insurance. To insure smallholder farmers against the impact of natural disasters, the Mexican government implemented the fully subsidised CADENA programme. The programme was discontinued in 2020 mainly because payouts did not reach the target group efficiently, leaving around 3.5 million smallholder farmers without protection against extreme weather events.

To improve the resilience of currently uninsured smallholder corn farmers to extreme drought and rainfall events, a new project consortium formed by the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) and state-owned re/insurer Agroasemex to promote the development of a sovereign insurance solution. ISF co-funds the project implementation and thereby helps to accelerate growth and enable the potential extension throughout the country. To this end Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (FS), managing the ISF, today signed a grant funding agreement with the project consortium partners. This marks a public-private partnership project under the Tripartite Agreement between the German government, IDF and UNDP to support risk-management solutions for climate-vulnerable countries.

Led by IDF members AXA Climate, Guy Carpenter, Munich Re and Swiss Re, it includes Agroasemex as a key local partner. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture strongly support the insurance scheme that ensures that insurance payouts will reach farmers directly and rapidly to mitigate the impact of natural disasters. Earlier this year ISF financed a dedicated feasibility study to substantiate the elements that are necessary to develop a suitable insurance cover to protect smallholder farmers. The new national insurance programme for smallholder farmers cultivating corn will be jointly designed by the re/insurance companies AXA Climate, Munich Re and Swiss Re, the reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter, as well as the Puerto Rican InsurTech Raincoat providing the insurance platform, including input from the local insurance companies.

This innovative solution makes use of insurance as an efficient mean to enhance social protection for low-income farmers. Serving as a role model for other countries, the project is expected to have positive spin-offs by facilitating access to finance and tailored weather forecasts for the smallholder farmers covered, as well as other social protection schemes through e.g. increased mobile phone penetration, inclusive enrolment processes and women empowerment measures. These types of disaster risk reduction measures are expected to help build farmers' resilience beyond the benefits of insurance.

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Launch: InsuResilience Solutions Fund Annual Report 2021

The InsuResilience Solutions Fund’s (ISF) Annual Report 2021 highlights the activities and developments of the Fund throughout the past year in strengthening climate-risk management and insurance.
Despite another challenging year of compounding risks, the ISF made considerable progress in supporting climate risk insurance solutions to close the protection gap for vulnerable populations, recording a growing number of activities and reaching 33 projects in 22 countries to date.
Set up as an implementing programme of the InsuResilience Global Partnership, ISF actively expands the use of pre-agreed climate risk insurance solutions embedded in comprehensive disaster risk management.

Scaling-up and improving National Agriculture Insurance Scheme in Rwanda

Frankfurt / Kigali

The Rwandan agricultural sector contributes about one third to GDP and is a critical driver of economic growth. More than 70 percent of all households are engaged in agriculture. Both crop and livestock production in Rwanda are vulnerable to natural disasters such as droughts, landslides, floods and storms, and are subject to pest and disease-related risks. The vast majority of agricultural producers in Rwanda are smallholder farmers who are highly vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters, a fact that poses a significant social and economic problem.

To crowd in investment to the agriculture sector and as part of a broader engagement on de-risking the sector as a whole, the Government of Rwanda launched the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) in 2019. NAIS aims at supporting sustainable agricultural production by stabilizing the income of farmers, increasing productivity and facilitating access to loans. The insurance programme consists of two product types, an indemnity-based livestock and an Area-yield index insurance for crops that currently covers mostly maize and rice farmers. During the conceptualization and design stage, extensive consultations were undertaken with key government and non-government stakeholders, farmer-based organizations, development partners, insurance companies and smallholder farmers. All these stakeholder views on the relevance and potential challenges of implementing agriculture insurance schemes were factored into the design of NAIS.

This new project, supported by the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), managed by Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (FS) and funded by KfW Development Bank, aims to further enhance and scale-up the offer of NAIS by distributing the products through additional cooperatives, banks and microfinance institutions. To this end, a grant agreement supporting the improvement and extension of the existing insurance products for Rwanda’s smallholder farmers was signed. The project is being implemented by a partnership encompassing the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN) as project lead and K. M Dastur & Company Limited (KMD), a global insurance and reinsurance broker providing technical assistance, supported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI). The African Reinsurance Corporation (Africa Re) is one of the risk takers of the scheme.

The aim of the ISF project is to include additional crops and livestock (e.g. poultry, piggery) and to bundle insurance with agricultural credit and inputs. This effort is supplemented by training field agents on the product, educating farmers and enhancing local technical capacity of different stakeholders. Furthermore, automation of claims processes and mobile applications to capture data, as well as the use of mobile money will be used to facilitate upscaling and to enhance transparency. The government subsidises up to 40% of the cost of the premiums.

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German government to enhance sovereign risk and resilience insight via InsuResilience Solutions Fund

As the IPCC is set to publish its findings on climate change adaptation, the German government commits an additional EUR 21 million to enhancing resilience to climate risks and improving climate risk analytics.

(Berlin, London and Dhaka) As the IPCC is set to publish its findings on climate change adaptation, the German government commits an additional EUR 21 million to enhancing resilience to climate risks and improving climate risk analytics. Germany’s partners in implementing these programmes are the V20, a finance ministers alliance of climate-vulnerable countries, and the Insurance Development Forum, a public-private partnership with the insurance industry. The funding will be administered via KfW´s InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) with EUR 11 million going towards the establishment of the Global Risk Modelling Alliance (GRMA) and EUR 10 million for premium financing for countries.
Read the full press release here

Scaling Up Agricultural Insurance in Togo

Frankfurt / Lomé

Togo is prone to river floods, water scarcity and extreme heat with increasingly negative impact on the population. As the most important economic sector in Togo, agriculture is of fundamental importance for sustainable economic development and food security. However, Togolese smallholder farmers are not protected against climate-related crop losses and have limited access to the finance they need to adapt their production to the changing climate.

In order to offer farmers financial protection against climate related losses, a partnership of local and international stakeholders has formed to offer farmers agricultural insurance bundled with loans. Bringing together expertise from local and international insurance, clients perspectives as well as technological services and innovation, the partnership unites the project initiator and lead Lorica, a broker and microinsurance consultant from Togo, Mouvement Alliance Paysanne du Togo (MAPTO), an agricultural cooperative, Assilassimé Solidarité, a microfinance institution, CLIN, a local data and IT service provider, as well as the local insurance company SUNU Togo and the reinsurance company Allianz Re; the InsurTech eLEAF from the Netherlands will be responsible for data processing and risk modelling.

With financial and advisory support from the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), the partnership has developed and successfully tested a pilot project for index-based drought insurance.
To scale up the insurance pilot to cover drought and excessive rainfall for up to four different crops (soy, rice, maize and cotton) in all five regions of Togo, the ISF, managed by the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (FS), and financed by KfW Development Bank, has signed a grant agreement with the partnership. ISF is providing co-funding for the product development and implementation of the agricultural insurance solution.

Cooperatives and microfinance institutions will distribute the product to smallholder farmers by offering loans bundled with insurance. Linking insurance to loans for agricultural inputs allows farmers to invest in risk reducing measures as well as machinery and higher quality inputs increasing their productivity. In case that farmers do not wish to take a loan, they may also take out the insurance directly against payment of the premium. In addition, all potential customers of the insurance product receive financial literacy, awareness and insurance education training.

In case of an insurance event, the payouts are either used as loan repayments or paid directly to the insured farmer. In order to secure a broad outreach to smallholder farmers, the entire process from enrolment to insurance payout processing, including customer relationship management and digital payment solution, will be accessible via mobile phone.

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Increased resilience against drought and extreme rainfall for smallholder farmers in Uganda

Frankfurt / Kampala

Induced by El Niño in 2016, Uganda faced one of the worst drought events in recent years, causing severe food shortage and livestock mortality rates to increase. In the short term such events especially drive the rural population into crisis mode, often for months. In the long term they increase the danger for small income households to either slip back into poverty or even sink deeper into it.

With around 70% of Uganda’s total population depending on agriculture as a means of employment, source of livelihood, consumption and income, natural disasters such as drought and flood hit extremely hard and will do so more frequently and severely due to climate change.

In the same year of El Niño, the Government of Uganda launched a national insurance scheme, the Uganda Agricultural Insurance Scheme (UAIS). With the UAIS, the Government currently provides insurance coverage to roughly 150,000 farmers – reaching less than 2% of the 8 million people active in the agricultural sector. With this new project supported by the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), managed by Frankfurt School of Finance & Management (FS) and funded by KfW Development Bank, the offer of the national insurance scheme will be further enhanced by providing farmers, who have not been reached so far, access to agricultural insurance. Therefor the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) has signed a grant agreement supporting the improvement of existing and the development of new insurance products for Uganda’s smallholder farmers. The project is implemented by a partnership consisting of the local insurance company Sanlam, representing the national consortium of insurance companies AgroConsortium, and eLEAF, a data processing and product designer from the Netherlands, acting as the project lead. The partnership member Agricultural Reinsurance Consultants (ARC) supports with training and consultation in capacity building as well as distribution of the products, OKO supports in sales and on-boarding of farmers and provides the insurance platform. ISF is providing co-funding for the product development and improvement of the agriculture insurance solutions.

The project is implemented in close cooperation with a number of local aggregators, such as MFIs, associations of farming cooperatives and access providers to off-takers. The partnership aims to complement the national insurance scheme UAIS and close the protection gap by improving the existing insurance products and developing new products to cover additional crops such as sorghum and barley, and other perils such as flood, heatwaves, cold spells and storm. Additionally, an IT infrastructure will be further improved and elaborated to enable an efficient and effective outreach to the farmers so far not reached by the existing scheme.

The insurance policies can be provided either directly to the respective farmers or indirectly through group policies or a meso-level insurance. Furthermore, the products may be bundled with agricultural extension services or loans resulting in a broader and encompassing offer of agricultural insurance products. Covering a wide range of crops and climatic zones the project will help to better meet the needs of smallholder farmers in Uganda.

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Innovative post-hurricane protection for endangered Mesoamerican Coral Reef goes live with insurance carrier confirmed

Frankfurt / London / Mesoamerican Reef Region

Programme partners Mesoamerican Reef Fund, Willis Towers Watson, and InsuResilience Solutions Fund announce AXA Climate as selected insurer.

Mesoamerican Reef Fund (MAR Fund), InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), and Willis Towers Watson (WTW) have today announced the appointment of AXA Climate (AXA Climate) as the insurance solutions provider that will support the MAR Insurance Programme, a critical pillar of MAR Fund’s Reef Rescue Initiative. The programme uses fast-paying parametric hurricane insurance to enable reef restoration, targeting four key sites with protected status and bringing benefits to local communities and resilience to their economies.

Following a competitive placement process executed by Willis Towers Watson’s parametric broking specialists within its Climate and Resilience Hub and Alternative Risk Transfer team, AXA Climate on behalf of AXA XL were selected as the capacity provider.

Antoine Denoix, CEO of AXA Climate, said: “AXA Climate’s mission is to support the transition to a sustainable and more resilient world. Protecting coral reefs is essential for the balance of the oceans and the millions of people who depend on them. We are very proud to support this innovative programme. It demonstrates the key role insurance plays in incentivising preparedness and providing rapid finance to mitigate ocean related risks and restore corals as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

Willis Towers Watson has been working closely with MAR Fund to explore how the tools and products of the insurance industry can be best deployed to support the conservation of the Mesoamerican Reef. The development of this innovative programme is made possible with financing from the InsuResilience Solutions Fund, building on the early support of Global Affairs Canada through the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance.

Dr Simon Young, a senior director of the Climate and Resilience Hub at Willis Towers Watson, said: “This ground-breaking programme demonstrates how novel approaches to risk financing can incentivise and deliver the rapid action which is so beneficial to building reef resilience in the face of the increasing impacts of climate change, from warming oceans to severe weather events. We are delighted to have AXA Climate on board and look forward to working closely with their team, while also acknowledging the keen interest and commitment of the broader reinsurance market demonstrated in part by such strong pricing competition.”

The launch of the MAR reef insurance programme represents a major advance in coastal community and ecosystem resilience. With the inception of parametric insurance to finance the activities of emergency response groups, crucially important reef sites on the Mesoamerican Reef will now be far more resilient to hurricane damage.

The four critical coral reef areas covered by this year’s insurance policy are Banco Chinchorro, Arrecifes de Xcalak, Hol Chan, and Turneffe Atoll. Plans are already in place for the pilot insurance programme to expand further to other key sites along the full length of the 1,000km reef system, which stretches along the Western Caribbean.
The insurance cover will trigger when hurricanes approach close enough to any of the four sites to cause significant damage to the coral reefs to require urgent response. The financial mechanism provides reliability, enabling response groups to carry out essential conservation activities in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes, by connecting pre-arranged, and therefore predictable and timely, finance to pre-planned reef response activities.

María José González, executive director of MAR Fund, said: “Emergency response groups that integrate local communities and are trained to act immediately after a storm retreats, are critical to connecting sustainable finance with concrete reef resilience outcomes. Bringing together human capacity and financial sustainability is vital to securing reef recovery and resilience.”

Dr Annette Detken, Head of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund, said: “Climate risk insurance enables vulnerable countries to respond more quickly and effectively. To address these issues and strengthen the resilience of poor and vulnerable people in developing countries, the InsuResilience Global Partnership aims to scale-up climate and disaster risk finance and insurance approaches for poor and vulnerable countries. We look forward to seeing this innovative approach being replicated in other countries.”

About MAR Fund
MAR Fund is a regional private environmental fund that carries out the Reef Rescue Initiative, with the mission to support the long-term ecologic and economic viability of the Mesoamerican Reef and the environmental services it provides, through a holistic strategy that recognises the deep connection between ecological and economic wellbeing in the region. It has been working with local conservation organisations and government agencies at each of the reef sites to put in place plans for response and to train and equip “brigades” to execute immediate reef-saving activities, including re-attachment of broken coral heads. Any insurance pay-out will be made within days into the existing Emergency Fund of the MAR Fund. The funds will then be transferred to predefined organisations that will make the required purchases and payments for the early action response.

About InsuResilience Solutions Fund
The mission of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) is to support innovative solutions to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. Therefore, ISF fosters the development of needs-based and financially sustainable climate risk insurance products in developing and emerging countries. Support for the insurance placement has been provided by ISF, managed by Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and funded by KfW Development Bank on behalf of the German government, under the Mesoamerican Reef Insurance Programme, with co-funding from Willis Towers Watson, MAR Fund, and Global Affairs Canada through the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance.

About the Climate and Resilience Hub
The Climate and Resilience Hub (CRH) is the focal point for Willis Towers Watson’s climate expertise and capabilities, pooling knowledge from across our people, risk, and capital businesses and from our collaborations to deliver climate and resilience solutions in response to a range of regulatory, investor, consumer, employee, and operating pressures. Under the Climate Quantified™ brand, we deliver analytics, advice, and transactions to enable corporate, finance, and public sector institutions to embrace the climate decade ahead.

About Willis Towers Watson
Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ: WLTW) is a leading global advisory, broking, and solutions company that helps clients around the world turn risk into a path for growth. With roots dating to 1828, Willis Towers Watson has 45,000 employees serving more than 140 countries and markets. We design and deliver solutions that manage risk, optimise benefits, cultivate talent, and expand the power of capital to protect and strengthen institutions and individuals. Our unique perspective allows us to see the critical intersections between talent, assets, and ideas — the dynamic formula that drives business performance. Together, we unlock potential. Learn more at willistowerswatson.com.

About AXA Climate
AXA Climate promotes a committed climate insurance: we prioritise working with clients committed to a sustainable transition. We integrate best-in-class climate expertise and satellite data in all our products. We believe from this decade onwards, only private and public actors committed to a sustainable transition will be insurable. Our mission is to reinvent the insurance business to support those engaged in sustainable transitions. We have developed a set of business lines around climate change: parametric insurance against climate risk, operational warning, climate consulting services, and training to engage all employees. We are a team of over 80 collaborators spread across the 5 continents, leveraging the entire AXA ecosystem.

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New Climate Risk Analysis assesses expected risks from flooding and cost-efficient adaptation measures for San Pedro Sula, Honduras

To respond effectively to the complexity and uncertainties of climate-related flood impacts and thus strengthen the resilience of the affected population in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, a climate risk analysis provides an essential tool to quantify the expected impact of climate risks but also to identify cost-effective adaptation measures.
The climate risk analysis was implemented by the United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) in cooperation with the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), and funded by KfW Development Bank on behalf of the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The study is based on the methodology of the Economics of Climate Adaptation (ECA) framework and the risk modelling platform CLIMADA.
The results provide important information for the Municipality of San Pedro Sula on where to intensify adaptation investments, which measures to prioritise and where additional climate risk financing can help build resilience to climate risks.
Download the Executive Summary of the analysis here

Commitment to climate insurance expanded - New phase for InsuResilience Solutions Fund

KfW and Frankfurt School of Finance & Management sign another phase of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund. This is in response to the high demand for support in climate risk insurance.

On Friday 9 July, the continuation of the cooperation between KfW and Frankfurt School was sealed with the signing of the contract for a further phase. The InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) was set up by KfW on behalf of the BMZ at Frankfurt School to support the development of innovative and sustainable climate risk insurance solutions in developing and emerging countries. The aim is to strengthen the resilience of households, small and medium-sized enterprises and governments to the impacts of climate change and natural disasters.

"Climate finance and climate risk insurance are highly relevant to development policy in the broader context of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. The InsuResilience Solutions Fund, managed by Frankfurt School, is doing important implementation work in this area, combining both private and public sector interests", says Prof. Dr. Nils Stieglitz, President of Frankfurt School.
Since its start in 2019, the ISF has already launched five Calls for Proposals that have attracted interest from around the world. Applicants to the Call for Proposals include businesses and organisations from the private and public sectors, as well as civil society. To date, the Fund has received over 200 concept notes to co-finance the product development of innovative climate risk insurance solutions.
The ISF is a key programme of the InsuResilience Global Partnership. The global partnership for climate and disaster risk financing and insurance solutions is committed to expanding the use of climate risk insurance. With its Vision 2025, the partnership has set itself ambitious targets. Among its objectives, the international initiative wants to contribute to insuring an additional 500 million people in developing countries against losses caused by extreme weather events by 2025.
In view of the burden of COVID, it is more important than ever to insure vulnerable countries against climate risks as quickly as possible in order to mitigate additional impacts from natural disasters. The goal of Vision 2025 is therefore also to develop comprehensive disaster risk financing strategies with 80 countries to integrate insurance solutions more strongly into the countries' climate and disaster risk management policies. The expansion of ISF support in the area of advisory and concept development, which is planned for the new project phase, strengthens the consideration of these aspects in the development of new insurance approaches and thus contributes to the development of integrated, comprehensive solutions.
In order to rapidly expand the protection of vulnerable and poor countries against climate risks, insurance approaches at national or subnational level make a particularly important contribution. At the UN Climate Summit, the BMZ therefore signed an agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) for a programme of technical assistance for vulnerable countries until 2025. The need for a significant expansion of financing and insurance solutions is also recognised at UN level.
In his recent speech at the IDF Summit, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for a more systematic linkage between climate risk insurance and development finance to increase the resilience of poor and vulnerable countries to disasters and to better manage climate risks in the future. The additional funding will allow ISF to further strengthen its support for the implementation of this public-private partnership and contribute to the development of innovative insurance solutions for vulnerable countries.

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Crop Insurance Program for smallholder farmers in Kenya

Frankfurt / Nairobi

Agriculture and livestock account for one third of Kenya's annual economic output. Climate change, however, is making weather patterns increasingly unpredictable, so Kenya's farmers in particular are feeling the effects of droughts. Smallholder farmers who depend on rain-fed agriculture and use low-technology farming methods are particularly vulnerable to droughts, given that less than 1% are currently protected by some form of insurance.

To tackle this challenge InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), managed by Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (FS) and funded by KfW Development Bank, has signed a grant agreement supporting the development of an insurance scheme for Kenya’s smallholder farmers. The project is implemented by a partnership encompassing ACRE as one of the largest micro-insurance provider in Africa, the international research and development organization, Alliance of Biodiversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and VanderSAT, a leading provider of global satellite-observed data. ISF is providing co-funding for the product development of the agriculture insurance solution.

The project will work closely with the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MoALF) as part of its climate smart insurance strategy for smallholder farmers.
The project combines the implementation of two technological innovations in climate risk insurance: soil moisture index insurance and a picture-based loss verification tool. By introducing these technological innovations into insurance product design, the aim is to minimise the cost of loss verification and make crop insurance more attractive and accessible to smallholder farmers, while optimising the technical product design over time. At the same time the picture-based tool helps smallholder farmers in reducing future losses due to drought by offering advisory services to farmers, including both climate smart agriculture practices and weather related decision support.

The product is distributed directly to smallholder farmers as a micro insurance product through trained champion farmers. Furthermore the insurance cover is also offered to agri-service providers such as financial institutions and input providers as well as to county governments.
The result is a versatile product that strengthens the resilience of smallholder farmers against climate change.

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Insuring the Mesoamerican Reef

Frankfurt / Guatemala City

The Caribbean coast of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras is frequently affected by high intensity cyclones, which imperil lives and livelihoods. The Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) protects coastal communities against storm surges, beach erosion, and wave-induced damage as well as providing ecosystem services on which livelihoods depend, including tourism and fisheries. But the effects of climate change and other stressors exert increasing pressure on the reef, making it more vulnerable to the negative impacts of hurricanes. Insurance for reefs is an innovative financing mechanism that can underpin more rapid and successful reef restoration and recovery.

InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), managed by Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and funded by KfW Development Bank, has signed a grant funding agreement supporting the implementation of a parametric insurance programme for the Mesoamerican Reef. The project is being implemented by the Mesoamerican Reef Fund (MAR Fund), a regional funding and coordination institution and the policyholder of the MAR Insurance programme, and Willis Towers Watson, a global advisory, broking, and solutions company. ISF is co-funding the project implementation.
The objective of the project is to pre-position funds for coastal communities to undertake rapid post-hurricane response to mitigate impacts to the reef. This will contribute to the resilience and conservation of these nature-based defences that protect the coastline, support livelihoods, and secure biodiversity. The project complements KfW support to MAR Fund, which includes contributions to the fund’s endowment capital to provide long-term funding for the conservation of the Mesoamerican Reef as well as project funding for the consolidation of the region’s protected areas network.

How does the insurance work?
Seven pilot reef sites across all four MAR countries have been selected for insurance coverage through national-multi-stakeholder processes. Criteria for site selection included the importance of the reef to local communities in: acting as natural breakwaters; supporting commercial and subsistence livelihood activities; and providing employment opportunities to the local population through the tourism and fisheries sectors.
In the event of a qualifying cyclone impacting any of the targeted sites, insurance pay-outs provide a predictable and timely source of funding for emergency reef response. Local communities receive direct funding to undertake pre-planned emergency response activities to ensure the survival of coral reefs, and the entire population along the MAR coast benefits indirectly through maintenance and enhancement of the ecosystem services provided by the coral reefs.

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Enhancing Colombian Cities’ Resilience through Insurance for Climate Risks and Natural Disasters

Frankfurt / Medellín

About half of the economic losses due to natural disasters in Colombia are caused by floods, followed by earthquakes and landslides. At the same time, however there are no adequate insurance products available on the market protecting Colombia´s urban population against the disastrous effects of these hazards. The ISF supports the promotion of resilience in communities susceptible to natural catastrophes by developing natural disaster risk insurance products for the City of Medellín.

The international humanitarian assistance and sustainable development organisation Global Communities and the Insurance Development Forum (IDF), represented by its members Hannover Re, an international reinsurance company, and Willis Towers Watson, a global advisory, broking and solutions company, formed a public private partnership to promote resilience in communities susceptible to natural catastrophes by developing natural disaster risk insurance products for the City of Medellín. The InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), managed by Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (FS) and funded by KfW Development Bank is providing co-funding for the product development of the insurance solution.
This public-private partnership and the Medellín project are part of implementing the Tripartite Agreement between the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the IDF and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to support risk management solutions for climate-vulnerable countries. The ISF is one of the vehicles used to support the implementation of the joint agreement.
With the objective to increase its resilience the project will develop a parametric flood and earthquake product, as well as an indemnity landslide protection for Medellín as part of the city’s Disaster Risk Management Plans. It foresees that once the product is taken to market after the end of the project, the city government of Medellín will be the policyholder via its Fund for Disaster Risk and Emergencies Management providing funding for emergencies, rehabilitation and reconstruction in Medellín. In case of an insurance event, the payouts of the insurance will benefit local affected communities in accordance with the municipality’s emergency response plans, for example via food and cash disbursements, and fast repair of basic infrastructure.
The project thus increases the resilience of Medellín to climate risks and natural disasters through insurance protection. Serving as a role model for other cities of the country, the project also fosters a favourable environment for the development of similar climate risk insurance products in the Colombian market.

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From climate risks to adaptation - Climate risk analysis supports adaptation to flooding in Honduras

San Pedro Sula, Honduras

San Pedro Sula is the second largest city in Honduras and the industrial centre of the country. The city is severely affected by hurricanes, tropical storms and flooding. Extreme weather events and natural catastrophes regularly destroy housing and infrastructure, and cause water drainage systems to collapse. In recent years, they have become more frequent and intense due to the effects of climate change and other stressors. Particularly vulnerable neighbourhoods suffer from large flooding caused by heavy rainfall and hurricanes. This is why flood risk is an important part of the “Master Plan for Municipal Development”, which the municipality developed to address the challenge of climate change.

To respond effectively to the complexity and uncertainties of these climate-related impacts and thus strengthen the resilience of the affected population in San Pedro Sula against the negative impacts of flood, a project team consisting of the United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) in cooperation with the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) and funded by KfW Development Bank on behalf of the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) implemented a climate risk analysis in San Pedro Sula. This is based on the methodology of the Economics of Climate Adaptation (ECA) framework and the risk modelling platform CLIMADA.

The ECA framework offers a helpful tool to assess and prioritize different climate adaptation options. It quantifies the economic and social-economic costs of climate risks but also identifies the most cost-effective adaptation measures in order to foster resilience against climate change. Working closely with the local government and key stakeholders, the project team collected and validated data, which was transformed into concrete scenarios on current and future climate impacts, and recommended flood adaptation options. The aim of the ECA methodology is not only to identify effective solutions, but also to assess their economic benefits and feasibility.

A total of 14 flood adaptation measures were identified and validated by the municipality. Based on the cost-benefit analysis, the following measures were particularly recommended: Drainage system improvements and maintenance, reforestation along riverbeds, and the construction of vegetated swales in the most flood-prone areas of the city. Additionally, the study concluded that the municipality would benefit from further investments into climate risk related data, improving the weather monitoring network and early warning systems.
On the one hand, the results provide important information for municipalities on where to intensify adaptation investments, which measures to prioritise and where additional climate risk financing can help build resilience to climate risks. On the other hand, international financing institutions, such as KfW, can use the results as a basis for feasibility studies, which are necessary to support the municipality in accessing finance for climate adaptation measures.

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Introducing insurance for flood prone communities in Nepal

Frankfurt / Kathmandu

Surrounded by mountains and vulnerable to diverse climatic conditions, Nepal is highly prone to multiple natural hazards. Agriculture is the main source of income for more than 65 % of Nepal's population and contributes 27 % to the national GDP. Major floods and landslides are a regular phenomenon and cause devastating impacts on agricultural production and communities every year. The riverine communities located downstream of the large Karnali river host the majority of the marginalised and indigenous population and are particularly vulnerable. Despite the immense loss of life and property, so far limited investments in disaster risk reduction have been made.

InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), managed by Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and funded by KfW Development Bank, has signed a grant funding agreement supporting the development of a flood insurance scheme for Nepal’s smallholder farmers and marginalised people.
The project is implemented by a partnership consisting of the NGO Practical Action, as project coordinator, the insurtech Stonestep, the local insurance company Shikhar Insurance Co Ltd and the risk modeller Global Parametrics. ISF is providing co-funding for the product development of this innovative insurance solution.
Thus in order to protect the most vulnerable and marginalised people from the effects of floods, the partnership aims to develop an index-based insurance product. Large parts of the insurance premium will be subsidised by the federal government. Community cooperatives and microfinance institutions will act as insurance policy holder as well as distribution partners. Based on accurate measurement of flood flows and rainfall level by hydrometric gauging stations, insurance payouts will be made and passed on to affected households. The approach foresees an active participation and role of cooperatives, Community Disaster Management Committees and local authorities, to make sure the insurance solution is well embedded in local disaster and climate resilience plans. As such the project will complement the ongoing Flood Resilience Programme of Practical Action contributing to wider flood resilience building efforts in the region.

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Development of a natural disaster risk insurance scheme for Nagaland

Frankfurt / Kohima

InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), managed by Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and funded by KfW Development Bank, today announced the signing of a grant agreement supporting the development of an insurance scheme for Nagaland’s State Disaster Response Mitigation Fund (SDRMF). By co-funding the development costs of the Nagaland insurance scheme the InsuResilience Solutions Fund is supporting a light-house project in the area of disaster risk management.

The project will be implemented by a partnership consisting of the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA), the local insurance company Tata AIG General Insurance Company Limited, with Swiss Re as reinsurance partner and the Swiss consultancy firm Faber Consulting as project coordinator. ISF provides grant based co-funding for the implementation phase.

The Indian state of Nagaland - located to the east of Assam and west of Myanmar - is exposed to high levels of humidity and heavy rains in the monsoon months of May to September. During the Monsoon season 2017, heavy storms, flash floods, heavy rain and landslides claimed 22 lives, and caused severe damage to public and private properties, affecting 30% of Nagaland’s population. Additionally Nagaland lies in a very high seismic zone – twelve major earthquakes have occurred in the region in the last 100 years. 70% of the population is considered as poor and vulnerable and therefore are over-proportionately exposed to these extreme events.
State Disaster Response Mitigation Funds (SDRMF) are the primary fund available for disaster response measures of Indian States, with complementary funding provided by the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF). With both funds being underfunded, Nagaland´s State Government is currently lacking the necessary resources for relief measures and the minimum compensation to victims of these disasters. To increase the state’s protection against natural catastrophes and to pilot a first insurance protection for the monsoon season in 2020, Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA), partnered with Tata AIG and Swiss Re. To expand and enhance the existing excess rainfall cover and develop a complementary earthquake cover, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund is now co-funding the innovative insurance programme in order to strengthen Nagaland’s resilience to natural disasters.

Johnny Ruangmei, Officer on Special Duty at NSDMA, Government of Nagaland says: “With the start of the project we will enhance the existing State and National Disaster Risk Funds by developing and implementing a parametric insurance solution for the monsoon season and earthquakes. This allows us to provide more meaningful and faster compensation in case of a disaster. Investment in risk transfer is essential to foster Nagaland’s resilience and sustainable development.

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Launch: InsuResilience Solutions Fund Annual Report 2020

The InsuResilience Solutions Fund’s Annual Report 2020 highlights the activities and engagements of ISF in the past year and shares the progress that the Fund has made in strengthening climate-risk management and insurance.
In this past year of fundamental challenges, the increasing risk of both natural hazards and pandemic crises underscored the importance of ex-ante risk financing and coping solutions. With articles, case studies, and interviews, the report illustrates the role of ISF and its partners in supporting vulnerable communities and governments to manage climate risks and strengthen their resilience.
Set up as an implementing programme of the InsuResilience Global Partnership, ISF actively supports the much needed scale-up of pre-arranged risk finance and insurance solutions.

Climate risk insurance for smallholder farmers in Tanzania

Frankfurt / Dar es Salaam

To improve the productivity and agricultural risk resilience of smallholder farmers in Tanzania a new partnership has been formed. The Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (FS), as implementing agency of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) announced today the signing of a grant funding agreement with the InsurTech company Pula and Reliance Insurance Tanzania, to design and implement climate risk insurance products.

The project aims to provide affordable climate risk insurance solutions to farmers, covering a wide range of risks such as drought, flood and plant disease that affect the harvest significantly. In collaboration with local partners, such as Reliance Insurance, the Tanzania Seed Trade Association, as well as seed and fertilizer companies, the insurance will be distributed to smallholder farmers. The insurance product will be bundled with certified high-quality inputs, supplemented by tailored agronomy advice. Seeds and fertiliser will be provided by input suppliers smallholder farmers already know and trust. To reach beneficiaries across the country the project innovates new data-driven solutions and delivery mechanisms.

With the support of ISF and strong public and private sector partnerships, Pula will build the basis for a scalable and sustainable model to adapt to climate change. This will pave the way not only to higher agricultural productivity, but also protect the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Tanzania. The new product demonstrates the use and benefit of climate risk insurance, which will enable smallholder farmers to respond effectively to risks and climate change.

Agriculture as economic support in Tanzania
Agriculture is the economic backbone of Tanzania, contributing to a large share of GDP and employing over 60% of the workforce, most of them smallholder farmers. The country´s agriculture is predominantly traditional and rain-fed, resulting in high dependency on weather conditions, such as natural rainfall cycles. Rising temperatures, longer dry spells and more intense heavy rainfall make the farmers vulnerable to climate risks. The lack of access to financial services such as credit and insurance, as well as to mechanisation and extension services, such as fertilisers and improved seeds, are additional challenges Tanzanian smallholder farmers’ face. The risk and negative livelihood impact of an insufficient or failed harvest can be enormous for a smallholder household.

*The ISF was set up and is funded by KfW on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is a key delivery channel for the InsuResilience Global Partnership, a joint initiative by the G20 and V20 countries to reduce vulnerability. The ISF supports innovative insurance solutions to mitigate negative impacts of climate change. It offers co-funding and advice for the development of new climate risk insurance concepts into marketable products and to expand sustainable existing products.

*Pula is an insurance & agro-tech company for smallholder farmers in Africa and other emerging markets. Its mission is to provide accessible, scalable insurance solutions for smallholder farmers. Pula uses satellite technology and farm level yield data to structure insurance products that provide a viable option for previously unbanked, uninsured and underserved farmers to insure their crops and livestock. Pula is present in 11 markets.

Photo Credit: Pula

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Product bundling, digital data processing and innovation enable smallholder farmers in Ghana to access climate risk insurance

Frankfurt / Accra

To improve the productivity and agricultural risk resilience of smallholder farmers a new partnership has been formed. The Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (FS), as implementing agency of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) announced today the signing of a grant funding agreement with the InsurTech company Pula and Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool (GAIP), to design and implement climate risk insurance products.

Agriculture is the economic backbone of Ghana, contributing to a large share of GDP and employing over 50% of the workforce, most of them smallholder farmers. The country´s agriculture is predominantly traditional and rain-fed, resulting in high dependency on weather conditions, such as natural rainfall cycles. Rising temperatures, longer dry spells and more intense heavy rainfall make the farmers vulnerable to climate risks. The lack of access to financial services such as credit and insurance, as well as to mechanisation and extension services, such as fertilisers and improved seeds, are additional challenges Ghanaian smallholder farmers’ face. The risk and negative livelihood impact of an insufficient or failed harvest can be enormous for a smallholder household.
The project aims to provide affordable climate risk insurance solutions to farmers, covering a wide range of risks such as drought, flood and plant disease that affect the harvest significantly. In collaboration with Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool, as well as other local partners from the agricultural sector the insurance will get into farmers’ hands. The insurance product in Ghana will be bundled with certified high-quality inputs, such as seeds and fertiliser from providers that smallholder farmers already know and trust, supplemented by tailored agronomy advice. To reach beneficiaries across Ghana the project innovates new data-driven solutions and delivery mechanisms.
With the support of ISF and strong public and private sector partnerships, Pula will build the basis for a scalable and sustainable model to adapt to climate change. This will pave the way not only to boost and promote agricultural productivity, but also to protect the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and demonstrate the use and benefit of climate risk insurance, which will enable them to respond effectively to risks and climate change.

*The ISF was set up and is funded by KfW on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is a key delivery channel for the InsuResilience Global Partnership, a joint initiative by the G20 and V20 countries to reduce vulnerability. The ISF supports innovative insurance solutions to mitigate negative impacts of climate change. It offers co-funding and advice for the development of new climate risk insurance concepts into marketable products and to expand sustainable existing products.

*Pula is an insurance & agro-tech company for smallholder farmers in Africa and other emerging markets. Its mission is to provide accessible, scalable insurance solutions for smallholder farmers. Pula uses satellite technology and farm level yield data to structure insurance products that provide a viable option for previously unbanked, uninsured and underserved farmers to insure their crops and livestock. Pula is present in 11 markets.

Photo credit: Pula

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Frankfurt School of Finance & Management and KfW expand cooperation and extend the InsuResilience Solutions Fund II

Development of innovative climate risk insurance via InsuResilience Solutions Fund continues in the second phase

Within the framework of the InsuResilience Global Partnership, the global partnership for Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance Solutions, policy recommendations for insurance markets in developing countries are being developed, in order to scale-up the use of climate risk insurance solutions. With the Vision 2025 the Partnership set the ambitious goal to provide coverage against losses induced by extreme weather events for an additional 500 million people in developing countries until 2025.

The InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) represents a pivotal delivery channel of the InsuResilience Global Partnership. On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), KfW Development Bank established and funded the ISF, to increase the resilience against the impacts of climate change and natural disasters at the micro, meso and macro level. The ISF promotes the development of innovative and sustainable climate risk insurance solutions tailored to meet the needs of households, small and medium-sized enterprises, humanitarian organizations and governments in developing and emerging countries affected by climate change. Thereby, the ISF increases the resilience of poor and vulnerable people to extreme weather events such as floods, wind/storm, excess rain, drought or cold spells.
Since its establishment in 2019, the ISF has already launched four Calls for Proposals that generated worldwide interest from the private and public sector as well as civil society. To date, the Fund has received over 120 applications for co-financing product development of innovative climate risk insurance solutions. So far, already six Grant Agreements for product development support have been signed, spanning from Latin America to South-East Asia.
The extension of the cooperation agreement between KfW and Frankfurt School and the signing of the contract for the second phase, will allow the ISF to continue its funding and research activities. With its strong focus on partnerships, the concept of the ISF addresses the actual needs and support required in order to better protect those affected by climate and natural disasters.

(Picture: Prof. Dr. Nils Stieglitz, President of Frankfurt School signs the contract)

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Development of a new insurance programme for public schools in Peru

Frankfurt / Lima

Peru is exposed to a variety of natural hazards, including earthquakes, tsunamis and heavy rains that lead to devastating floods and landslides. The 2017 El Niño Costero flooding in Peru was highly destructive with catastrophic effects for the country and its public infrastructure. Yet a low insurance distribution in the country left people vulnerable, with little financial protection. As a consequence significant investment was required from the Government to address the aftermath.

Damaged as a result of El Niño Costero, more than 1,000 public schools will only be rebuilt after three years. Administrative hurdles and limited capacities represent major obstacles for the swift reconstruction and repair of public infrastructure. With an innovative insurance approach and more efficient loss assessment, a faster reconstruction process and resumption of schooling will be enabled through a new project promoted by Peruvian Association of Insurance Companies (APESEG), co-funded by the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) and a project consortium formed by the Insurance Development Forum (IDF).

To strengthen the resilience of the portfolio of more than 50,000 public schools in Peru to natural disaster risks, the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (FS), as implementing agency of the ISF, today signed a grant funding agreement with the IDF project consortium partners. Led by AXA XL and Munich Re, it includes APESEG as a critical local partner. To substantiate the political, technical and legal feasibility of the insurance approach, the ISF co-financed a respective feasibility study last year. The new national insurance programme for public schools against natural hazards will be jointly designed by the re/insurance companies AXA XL and Munich Re as well as the catastrophic risk modellers GEM Foundation and JBA Risk Management, including input from the local insurance companies.

As part of this project for the Peruvian government, the insurance programme serves as a catalyst for comprehensive risk management. Ex-ante formulated financing and reconstruction procurement processes for public schools are intended to enable a faster start of reconstruction and help to improve school building standards in the long term. The use of innovative image recognition technologies, offered by the InsurTech Picsure enables a faster documentation and value assessment of assets to be insured and more cost-efficient assessment of claims.

As a result, the resilience of public schools in Peru against major climate and natural disaster risks will be enhanced and pupils and school staff throughout the country may indirectly benefit from improved and secure school buildings and a faster resumption of schooling, minimizing education interruption.

*The ISF was set up and is funded by KfW on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is a key delivery channel for the InsuResilience Global Partnership, a joint initiative by the G20 and V20 countries to reduce vulnerability. The ISF supports innovative insurance solutions to mitigate negative impacts of climate change. It offers co-funding and advice for the implementation of new climate risk insurance concepts into marketable products and to expand sustainable existing products.

*The IDF is a public-private partnership led by the re/insurance industry and supported by international organisations. The IDF was first announced at the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP21) Paris Climate summit in 2015 and was officially launched by leaders of the United Nations, the World Bank and the insurance industry in 2016. The IDF aims to optimise and extend the use of insurance and its related risk management capabilities to build greater resilience and protection for people, communities, businesses, and public institutions that are vulnerable to disasters and their associated economic shocks. Please find the IDF Practical Guide to Insuring Public Assets here

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Climate risk insurance gets a major boost in Bangladesh

Frankfurt / Dhaka

Bangladesh is one of the world’s countries likely to be most affected by climate change. As Cyclone Amphan recently demonstrated, the country’s subtropical monsoon climate leaves it highly susceptible to natural disasters. Food security depends heavily on over 12 million smallholder farmers. They are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events. Most of the smallholders practice rain-fed agriculture, and thus face the risks of drought, excess rainfall and flooding. Despite this vulnerability, however, agricultural insurance in Bangladesh is still in its infancy.

A new partnership aims to address this challenge. The Frankfurt School of Finance and Management (FS), as implementing agency of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF*) today signed a grant funding agreement with the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA )and further organizations. “This partnership aims to improve smallholders’ resilience to climate change by providing suitable insurance products”, says Annette Detken, Director of the ISF. “Our grant will co-fund the development and scale-up of climate risk insurance for a range of crops, that is tailored to meet smallholders’ needs.” With help of the Swiss digital platform developer EnvEve S.A., the partners are also developing a software platform to support product development, pricing and distribution. The Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC) financially supports the project within its Surokkha initiative on insurance solutions in Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, getting insurance into farmers’ hands will be in collaboration with local partners. BRAC, the world’s largest NGO and microfinance institution, and Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd (GDIC), the largest non-life insurance company and the only agricultural and livestock insurance provider of Bangladesh, will distribute the insurance products in at least nine districts. They will also provide training and advice. “This partnership will encourage innovation, scale promising solutions and strengthen the use of agriculture insurance in building resilience among smallholder farmers.” says Tanvir Rahman Dhaly, Head of BRAC Microfinance Programme. “I believe that this partnership will mark a historical moment for the insurance sector of Bangladesh.” explains Farzanah Chowdhury, Managing Director & CEO, GDIC. “It will enable GDIC and ISF contribute in ensuring the country's food security by addressing the impact of climate change."
“Creating a better world requires teamwork, partnerships, and collaboration. If agriculture goes wrong, little else will have a chance to go right. So how do we boost and promote agricultural productivity and achieve global food security while at the same time managing climate change?”, asks Olga Speckhardt, Head of Global Insurance Solutions at the Syngenta Foundation. “Part of the answer lies in partnerships both public and private.”
Internationally, the 2-year initiative will also draw on the skills of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) at Columbia University, New York, and Reading University’s Walker Institute in the UK. Their role will be to document the process of product development and to build local skilled resources for scaling up agriculture insurance in the long term.

*The ISF was set up and is funded by KfW on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is a key delivery channel for the InsuResilience Global Partnership, a joint initiative by the G20 and V20 countries to reduce vulnerability. The ISF supports innovative insurance solutions to mitigate negative impacts of climate change. It offers co-funding and advice for the implementation of new climate risk insurance concepts into marketable products and to expand sustainable existing products. On the condition that applicants commit to providing half the requested funding, ISF offers grants of up to €2.5m.

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Historic First in Nagaland, India

Insurance Protection Against Natural Catastrophes & Disaster Risks through Parametric Insurance

In May 2020 the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) has inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Tata AIG General Insurance Company Limited and Swiss Re as its reinsurance partner, to provide insurance protection for this year's monsoon season.
This historic step by India's northeastern state of Nagaland to opt for disaster risk financing through insurance protection, can lead to a big leap in the country's efforts to strengthen resilience.
The InsuResilience Solutions Fund is proud to support the NSDMA in its effort to establish an effective and efficient disaster risk management system by providing advisory services.
Read the full article here.

Climate risk insurance as a means to provide emergency liquidity in times of crises

Frankfurt / Bogotá

Already today Colombia is severely exposed to natural disasters including floods, tsunamis and earthquakes. Intense rains that have been occurring in the framework of the winter wave 2019, have caused landslides, gales and floods after the overflow of the rivers Guaviare, Ariari and Guayabero, affecting over a third of the country’s municipalities and more than 45,000 families.

Due to climate change the frequency and severity of extreme weather events such as excess rainfall, flooding and landslides is expected to increase even further. Damages to crops and livestock but also income losses due to business interruptions put smallholder farmers and micro-entrepreneurs most at risk. Still, financial products to bridge income losses and immediate liquidity needs in the aftermath of natural disaster are hardly available for small entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers. Climate risk insurance can thus be an effective instrument to provide the necessary financial resources following adverse weather events and natural catastrophes.

With the objective to support the development of index-based insurance for micro-entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers in Colombia, the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, as implementing agency of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) signed a grant agreement with the joint partnership of the Microinsurance Catastrophe Risk Organization (MiCRO) and SBS Colombia S.A.
MiCRO was set up in 2011 by Mercy Corps in order to design and implement affordable and needs-based risk transfer solutions to the underserved population. Partnering with the local insurer SBS Colombia S.A., MiCRO intends to scale up its existing index insurance for small and medium-sized enterprises and farmers as well as to adjust the initial product to the needs of new aggregators’ clients. The initial product designed by MiCRO and SBS Colombia is being offered to clients of the local bank Bancamia since October 2019. The insurance products aim to protect micro-entrepreneurs and smallholder farmers against financial losses as a result of all natural hazards. With the aim of reaching 300,000 beneficiaries by 2022, the project offers a holistic solution that stabilises the income of vulnerable households, thereby strengthening their resilience. This will be achieved by combining the index-based insurance product with a value-added programme that helps raising awareness of disaster risk reduction.

The ISF has been set up and is funded by KfW on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is a pivotal delivery channel of the InsuResilience Global Partnership, a joint initiative of the G20 and V20 to reduce vulnerability of poor and vulnerable. The ISF supports innovative climate risk insurance solutions to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. It offers co-funding and advisory for the implementation of new climate risk insurance concepts into marketable products and the expansion of existing, sustainable climate risk insurance products. Under the condition that the applicants commit a meaningful own contribution of 50% of the requested funding, ISF provides grants of up to 2.5m EUR.

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Webinar - Community of Practice and Online Platform for Sustainable Climate Risk Management

via Zoom; May 25th at 2:00PM CET

eca_webinar_2020_conceptnote

To keep up with the fast-paced world of growing knowledge and to broaden the spectrum of our understanding on climate risk, mitigation and adaptation, we are delighted to invite you to the webinar on Climate Adaptation – Tools and Practices - Community of practice and online platform for sustainable climate risk management.

The platform will support practitioners in their efforts to better evaluate and manage their climate risks using the latest probabilistic analysis tools. The main objective of the webinar series is to foster discussion and dissemination of knowledge in the field.

When: Monday, May 25th at 2:00PM CET

Organized by:
ETH Zürich (Weather and Climate Risk Institute for Environmental Decisions)
Frankfurt School of Finance and Management
United Nations University (UNU-EHS)

Please find a brief description of the webinar, as well as instructions to access the meeting via Zoom in the attached concept note

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Kick-off for Economics of Climate Adaptation Study in Vietnam

Can Tho, Vietnam

The first workshop to initiate a comprehensive climate risk analysis took place in Can Tho, Vietnam on January 10 2020. The climate risk analysis is based on the Economics of Climate Adaptation (ECA) Methodology, combining risk assessment as well as identification and assessment of adaptation measures and insurance solutions.
Can Tho is the largest city in the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam, and is the main centre of trade and investment in a region counting more than 17 million inhabitants. Low elevation, with an average altitude of 0.5–1 m above sea level and rising sea levels due to climate change have contributed to an increase in severe river flooding and coastal erosion. Rapid industrialization and urbanization have heightened the effects of seasonal flooding, as the city’s economic and social institutions become more dependent on reliable electric supply and standardized transportation.

The workshop was organised and implemented by the InsuResilience Solutions Fund in cooperation with the United Nations University's Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS). The objective of the workshop was to familiarise all relevant stakeholders with the methodology applied, to understand their specific needs, and to define the final scope for the study. The People’s Committee of Can Tho, as well as the KfW Development Bank inaugurated the workshop which was attended by representatives from the rural and urban government, business associations, academia and international organisations.
The study's results will allow policy makers to make an informed decision in prioritising cost-effective adaptation measures.
Applying risk analysis tools and models developed by the insurance sector, the ISF in cooperation with the UNU-EHS offers comprehensive climate risk analysis as an essential element of climate risk management to partners in developing and emerging economies.

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Kick-off for Economics of Climate Adaptation Study in Ethiopia

Addis Ababa

On December 17 the kick-off workshop of a comprehensive climate risk analysis took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The climate risk analysis is based on the Economics of Climate Adaptation (ECA) Methodology, combining risk assessment as well as identification and assessment of adaptation measures and risk transfer solutions.
The study is implemented in the Afar and Somali regions, in eastern Ethiopia, which are among the most vulnerable regions in the country. Extreme climate conditions, such as high temperatures, low rainfall, sparse arable land and limited access to water, lead to high competition for pasture and water and put the pastorals' livelihood under extreme stress. Climate change is expected to aggravate the effects of drought. Thus climate analyses are extremely important to achieve drought resilience and food security for the benefit of the agro-pastoral and pastoral population.

The workshop was organised and implemented by the InsuResilience Solutions Fund in cooperation with the United Nations University's Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS). The objective of the workshop was to familiarise all relevant stakeholders with the methodology applied, to understand their specific needs, and to define the final scope for the study. The Ministry of Agriculture of Ethiopia, as well as the KfW Development Bank inaugurated the workshop which was attended by representatives from the national and local government, academia, consultancy firms and community leaders.
The study's results will allow policy makers to make an informed decision in prioritising cost-effective adaptation measures.
Applying risk analysis tools and models developed by the insurance sector, the ISF in cooperation with the UNU-EHS offers comprehensive climate risk analysis as an essential element of climate risk management to partners in developing and emerging economies.

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InsuResilience Solutions Fund supports climate risk insurance for family farms in Serbia and North Macedonia

Frankfurt / Belgrade / Skopje

Serbia and North Macedonia, two Balkan countries situated in Southeast Europe are strongly affected by extreme weather events. Over the last years excess rainfall, long-lasting precipitation periods and snowmelt have caused unprecedented floods. In May 2014 Serbia suffered the heaviest rainfall and worst flooding since records began 120 years ago, causing losses above USD 2 billion. More recently, heatwaves, which led to a drop in agriculture output of nearly 10%, have underscored the threat of climate change in the region. Consequently, the awareness of climate risks and its negative impacts on the livelihoods of farming households has risen significantly.

With the Grant Agreement signed between the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, as implementing agency of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), and the joint partnership of Europa Re Ltd. and local partners, the ISF is actively supporting Serbia and North Macedonia to increase its capacities to cope and adapt to increasing climate risks. Within the project, ISF provides grants for co-funding the development of two different climate risk insurance schemes adapted to the respective needs of the two partner countries: a national and a municipal climate risk insurance scheme. The innovative insurance approaches to be developed with the support of ISF, will help to increase the climate resilience of farmers and vulnerable families in rural areas of Serbia and Northern Macedonia.
Established in 2014 as a licensed Swiss reinsurer, Europa Reinsurance Facility Ltd. has been actively involved in the development of national catastrophe insurance markets in South East Europe and Caucasus. In order to offer insurance protection to the unserved Europa Re is partnering with Globos Osiguranje, a national Serbian insurance company and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy (MAFWE) in North Macedonia.
In case of weather related crop shortfalls and agricultural losses, the insurance product will provide compensation to a respective municipality in Serbia and the North Macedonian Ministry of Agriculture, thus enabling them to provide timely compensation to affected farmer households. These innovative climate risk insurance solutions represent an illustrative example for financing climate risks thus contributing to the objective of the InsuResilience Global Partnership and its Vision 2025 to improve the resilience of poor and vulnerable people against the impacts of climate change and natural disasters.
The ISF was set up by KfW German Development Bank, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and is managed by the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management. As implementing programme of the InsuResilience Global Partnership the ISF supports innovative climate risk insurance solutions to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. It offers co-funding and advise for the implementation of new climate risk insurance concepts into marketable products and the expansion of existing, sustainable climate risk insurance products. Under the condition that the applicants commit a meaningful own contribution of 50% of the requested funding, ISF provides grants of up to 2.5m EUR.

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InsuResilience Solutions Fund hosts reception at the 25th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid

Madrid, Spain

On behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and KfW Development Bank, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) managed by Frankfurt School of Finance & Management hosted a reception at the 25th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 25) in Madrid, bringing together high-level representatives of the public and private sector in the field of climate risk insurance sharing the InsuResilience Vision 2025 in its effort to improve climate resilience.

After the welcoming by Annette Detken, Head of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund, Barbara Schnell, Director Sector Policy at KfW Development Bank and member of ISF's Strategic Committee, presented the Fund and its innovative approach to promoting risk transfer solutions.

The ISF promotes the development of innovative and sustainable climate risk insurance products in developing and emerging countries representing a pivotal programme of the InsuResilience Global Partnership as a joint initiative supported by the G20 and V20.

The highlight of the reception presented the announcement of the grant agreement between the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) and the joint partnership between Europa Re Ltd. and its local partners. The aim of the product partnership is to develop a national and a municipal approach to climate risk insurance. With the help of innovative insurance products, the climate resilience of farmers and vulnerable families in rural areas of Serbia and Northern Macedonia will be increased.
Established in 2014 as a licensed Swiss reinsurer, Europa Reinsurance Facility Ltd. has been actively involved in the development of national catastrophe insurance markets in South East Europe and the Caucasus. In order to offer insurance protection to the unserved, Europa Re is partnering with Globos Osiguranje, a national Serbian insurance company and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy (MAFWE) in North Macedonia.

These innovative climate risk insurance solutions represent an illustrative example for financing climate risks thus contributing to the goal of the ISF to improve the resilience of poor and vulnerable people against the impacts of climate change and natural disasters.

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Understanding Climate Risks - What does it mean for San Salvador?

Publication

A new publication by the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) in cooperation with the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) illustrates the importance of climate risk analysis as essential instrument of comprehensive climate risk management on the basis of results of a San Salvador case study. Including insurance in climate risk analyses shows the relevance of insurance and the incentives insurance can set for complementary adaptation measures. For the case study of San Salvador, answers to the most urgent questions policy-makers are facing with regard to climate risks are being provided, in order to define a comprehensive climate risk management approach.
understanding-climate-risks-pdf

The need for climate adaptation and risk management is most pressing in low-income countries. Climate risk modelling and analysis can provide decision-makers with the information they need to turn policies into action.
A joint side event with UNU-EHS, IDF and ETH Zurich presenting this topic in more detail will be hosted at the EU Pavilion (11 December 2019, 10:30-12:00) of the COP25 in Madrid, entitled “Decision for Action – Perspectives on implementing evidence-based climate finance”.

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Kick-off workshop of climate risk analysis in Honduras

San Pedro Sula, Honduras

On November 13 and 14 the kick-off workshop of a comprehensive climate risk analysis took place in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. San Pedro Sula is the second largest city in Honduras and the industrial center of the country. Extreme weather events and natural catastrophes have a great impact on its businesses and livelihoods of the city´s population. Especially vulnerable neighbourhoods suffer from large flooding caused by heavy rainfall and hurricanes, expected to become more frequent and intense due to climate change.

The workshop was organised and implemented by the InsuResilience Solutions Fund in cooperation with the United Nations University's Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) with the aim to familiarise all relevant stakeholders with the methodology applied, to understand their specific needs, and to define the final scope for the study. The mayor of San Pedro Sula inaugurated the workshop which was attended by over 60 representatives from the municipality, private sector, academia, community leaders and civil society organisations.
The climate risk analysis is based on the Economics of Climate Adaptation (ECA) Methodology, combining risk assessment as well as identification and assessment of adaptation measures and risk transfer solutions. The study's results allow policy makers to make an informed decision in prioritising cost-effective adaptation measures.
Applying risk analysis tools and models developed by the insurance sector, the ISF in cooperation with the UNU-EHS offers comprehensive climate risk analysis as an essential element of climate risk management to partners in developing and emerging economies.

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ISF presents at 15th International Conference on Inclusive Insurance

Dhaka, Bangladesh

In the course of the 15th International Conference on Inclusive Insurance for Emerging Markets hosted by Munich Re Foundation in cooperation with BIA and MIN, the ISF presented its activites and application process to experts from the private and public sectors.

The 15th International Conference on Inclusive Insurance for Emerging Markets was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 5 to 7 November 2019. Hosted by Munich Re Foundation and in cooperation with the Bangladesh Insurance Association (BIA) and the Microinsurance Network (MIN), the conference featured panel discussions on key topics, working groups and interactive sessions addressing more than 400 participating experts from private and public sectors around the world with varying topics on developing insurance markets, the role of stakeholders, societal capacity building, the role of technolgy and more. For more information on the conference agenda, visit the IMC website.
Being awarded the opportunity to use this platform to gain visibility, the ISF hosted a side event at the conference venue presenting its mandate and structure as well as ongoing acivities, and providing detailed information on the different steps of the application process for a Call for Proposals. The side event was received with great interest emphasising the significant potential of such events to reach future partners. In addition, the conference provided the setting to further nurture established cooperations with partnerships in different emerging markets.
The 16th International Conference on Inclusive Insurance for Emerging Markets will take place in November 2020 in Jamaica.

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Beneficiaries of Rapid Response Reef Risk Financing in the MAR Region

REPORT

Insurance for reefs is an innovative financial mechanism that can contribute to reef restoration and recovery. The insurance element is part of a larger programme of work to build long-term resilience of reefs and the livelihoods they support and protect along the entire Mesoamerican Reef. In preparation for the development of a reef insurance product in the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) Region, the ISF funded two preparatory studies by WTW and MAR Fund.

The InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) supports the development of innovative climate risk insurance solutions by funding preparatory studies necessary for the development of the insurance concept as well as for assessing the feasibility of the envisaged solution.
In preparation for the development of a reef insurance product in the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) Region, the ISF funded two preparatory studies. The studies have been prepared accordingly by Willis Towers Watson and MAR Fund.
Insurance for reefs is an innovative financial mechanism that can contribute to reef restoration and recovery. The insurance element is part of a larger programme of work to build long-term resilience of reefs and the livelihoods they support and protect along the entire Mesoamerican Reef.
The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the conservation of the MAR region (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras) by implementing a parametric insurance model for reefs to deliver quick financing for rapid response and reef restoration actions, after damages caused by hurricanes.
Socioeconomic analysis and identification of the indirect beneficiaries of insurance program in the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) region.
mar-reef-risk-financing_beneficiaries-study

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Sustainability of Rapid Response Reef Risk Financing in the MAR Region

REPORT

In preparation for the development of a reef insurance product in the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) Region, the ISF funded two preparatory studies by WTW and MAR Fund. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the conservation of the MAR region (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras) by implementing a parametric insurance model for reefs to deliver quick financing for rapid response and reef restoration actions, after damages caused by hurricanes.

The InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF) supports the development of innovative climate risk insurance solutions by funding preparatory studies necessary for the development of the insurance concept as well as for assessing the feasibility of the envisaged solution.
In preparation for the development of a reef insurance product in the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) Region, the ISF funded two preparatory studies. The studies have been prepared accordingly by Willis Towers Watson and MAR Fund.
Insurance for reefs is an innovative financial mechanism that can contribute to reef restoration and recovery. The insurance element is part of a larger programme of work to build long-term resilience of reefs and the livelihoods they support and protect along the entire Mesoamerican Reef.
The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the conservation of the MAR region (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras) by implementing a parametric insurance model for reefs to deliver quick financing for rapid response and reef restoration actions, after damages caused by hurricanes.

Preparation study of the associated sustainability for the implementation of a parametric insurance instrument for reefs in the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) Region
mar-reef-risk-financing_sustainability-study

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ISF and Frankfurt School support the development of drought insurance for smallholder farmers in South Africa

Frankfurt am Main / South Africa

In 2015 and early 2016, a severe drought drastically reduced water supplies and agricultural production in South Africa. Maize and other crops did not grow, livestock was threatened to starve. Especially smallholder farmers and their families were heavily impacted not only by losing their income but also risking going hungry. Economic loss from the drought was estimated close to half a billion USD.

(Frankfurt / Cape Town) Although insurance could effectively reduce the vulnerability of smallholder farmers towards extreme weather events like drought, as of today less than one percent have access to agricultural insurance - thus leaving an estimated 1.7 million smallholder and subsistence farmers in South Africa uninsured against weather related risks. Although the Department of Agriculture has a disaster relief programme, its ex-post financing has proven not to be timely and has led to a significant number of these farmers being left destitute due to delays associated with the current programme in place. Hence, Adam Maniki Rakgalakane, Managing Director of Land Bank Insurance Company, emphasises the relevance of the innovative insurance product: “With the support of the InsuResilience Solution Fund we will develop a drought insurance solution for smallholder farmers, which will allow faster pay-outs and relief in case of a drought."
To improve access to agricultural insurance for smallholder farmers, the InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF), represented by its management, the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, South African Land Bank Insurance Company and Celsius Pro have signed a grant funding agreement. This grant - the first provided by ISF since its commencement of operation in 2019 - will serve to co-fund the development and market introduction of an innovative index-based insurance for crop and livestock for smallholder farmers in South Africa, intending to provide insurance cover to some 240,000 people by 2021. As a government-owned institution, Land Bank and its subsidiary Land Bank Insurance Company are mandated by the government to facilitate access of poor and vulnerable population to financial services. In order to offer insurance protection to the unserved Land Bank Insurance Company is partnering with CelsiusPro, a highly experienced Swiss Insurtech company specialised in inclusive climate and natural catastrophe insurance. Mark Rueegg, CEO of CelsiusPro: “We are proud to provide, an automated insurance administration platform enabling quick payouts, reducing costs and making insurance affordable for smallholder farmers. It is our aim to include poor and vulnerable people into the financial system.”

Dr. Annette Detken, Head of InsuResilience Solutions Fund, points out: ”The project shows the way to concrete and scalable solutions improving resilience and adaptation to climate impacts.” This innovative climate risk insurance thus represents an illustrative example for the Resilience and Adaptation action track of the UN Climate Action Summit to be convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres on September 23 in New York.

The ISF has been set up and is funded by KfW on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is a pivotal delivery channel of the InsuResilience Global Partnership, a joint initiative of the G20 and V20 to reduce vulnerability of poor and vulnerable. The ISF supports innovative climate risk insurance solutions to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. It offers co-funding and advisory for the implementation of new climate risk insurance concepts into marketable products and the expansion of existing, sustainable climate risk insurance products. Under the condition that the applicants commit a meaningful own contribution of 50 per cent of the requested funding, ISF provides grants of up to 2.5 million euros.

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Bringing Climate Risk Insurance forward – the 2nd InsuResilience Global Partnership Forum at the COP24

Katowice, Poland

On December 10th, KfW participated at the 2nd InsuResilience Global Partnership Forum “Paving the way to effective risk financing solutions”. The Forum is the annual meeting of the InsuResilience Global Partnership for Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance Solutions (IGP).

This year´s Forum took place at the margins of the UN Climate Conference (COP 24) in Katowice. The partnership counts more than 60 members, which convene annually to exchange experiences, share knowledge and raise awareness about disaster risk finance and insurance. In five different sessions, approaches to promote climate and disaster risk finance and insurance solutions in Pakistan, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Zambia and West Africa were discussed, including climate risk insurance concepts linked to KfW.
Both, the Sri Lanka and the Colombia session, debated insurance concepts which seek financial support from KfW’s InsuResilience Solutions Fund (ISF).
As the ISF is continuously evolving, we thank all the participants for fruitful and lively discussions.

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COP24 - United Nations Climate Change Conference

Katowice, Poland

The 24th conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will take place in Katowice, Poland.

With the 24th conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24) only days ahead, we are pleased to announce that the ISF will be part of this event. Within two breakout sessions of the InsuResilience Global Partnership Forum, concepts will be presented seeking co-financing from the ISF. Furthermore, the advantage of building public-private-partnerships to help the poor and vulnerable to better manage increasing climate risks will be explored.

For further information on COP24, visit the website.
For further information on the Global Partnership Forum, follow this link.

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ISF at the annual IIS Global Insurance Forum on the 11th of July 2018

Berlin, Germany

Please take not of a joint event on INSURANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND RESILIENCE in cooperation with the International Insurance Sociatey (IIS), the Insurance Development Forum (IDF) and the InsuResilience Global Partnership during the annual IIS Global Insurance Forum the 11th of July 2018 which will be devoted to insurance and development themes involving public, private, NGO and academic communities from developed and developing countries. A key objective is to showcase early success and illustrate how visionary cooperation across sectoral, international, regional and national schemes will pave the way towards a resilient future.

The InsuResilience Secretariat is delighted to invite you to the Global Insurance Forum, hosted by the IIS and The Institutes, with a full day dedicated to Insurance for Global Development & Resilience in collaboration with InsuResilience Global Partnership and the Insurance Development Forum (IDF).

The third day of the annual IIS Global Insurance Forum, Wednesday 11 July, will be devoted to the role and potential of climate and disaster risk finance and insurance to build resilience in developed and developing countries as a contribution to economic and social prosperity, including sessions focusing on climate risk resilience for the poor and most vulnerable. An agenda can be viewed here

The open session will feature keynote addresses from Joaquim Levy, Managing Director and World Bank Group Chief Financial Officer and Denis Duverne, Chairman of the Board of Directors of AXA alongside senior global leaders in a series of high-level panel discussions, and practical working sessions. The day will present an array of innovative risk finance and insurance solutions on how visionary cooperation across sectoral, international, regional and national schemes will pave the way towards a resilient future.

www.insuresilience.org/

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Launch Event of the InsuResilience Solutions Fund

Berlin, Germany


Mandated by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), KfW has set up a new facility to support the development of innovative climate risk insurance products and insurance markets in developing countries - the InsuResilience Solutions Fund. The fund will support the development of new climate risk insurance products for governments, humanitarian organizations, small and medium sized enterprises as well as private households by providing partial grant-funding and expertise for product development.

The InsuResilience Solutions Fund is an important contribution of KfW to achieve the target of the international initiative on climate risk insurance ’InsuResilience’ aiming at increasing the number of the most vulnerable developing countries who have access to climate risk insurance coverage by up to 400 million between 2015 and 2020.

High level representatives from our partner countries, Global Parametrics, Save the Children, Vision Fund International and Welthungerhilfe will discuss how to further develop climate risk insurance products most suitable to support the poor and vulnerable.

www.insuresilience-solutions-fund.org

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Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund

Washington DC, US

The Annual Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, parliamentarians, private sector executives, representatives from civil society organizations and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness.

Also featured are seminars, regional briefings, press conferences, and many other events focused on the global economy, international development, and the world's financial system. This year's events will take place in Washington, DC, October 9-15, 2017.

www.imf.org/external/am/2017/index.htm

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Focus areas

The InsuResilience Solutions Fund seeks to increase the resilience and capacity of developing and emerging countries to adapt to climate change by:
  1. Supporting comprehensive Climate Risk Analysis as the basis for governments, businesses and households to become more proactive in risk management and to make informed decisions on climate risk management and adaptation strategies.
  2. Offering studies and advice for the development of new concepts for Climate Risk Insurance solutions that take into account the specific needs of vulnerable populations and
  3. Co-funding the development and market introduction of insurance products, as well as supporting the expansion of existing innovative Climate Risk Insurance products.
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