Regional
Headquarters, Jamaica. Monday, December 16, 2019 —The
year 2019 once again proved challenging for many communities around
the world who are living at the frontlines of climate change.
Low-lying island states especially were hit by a number of weather
events, including hurricanes, tropical storms, tsunamis, excess
rainfall, drought, storm surge and wave impacts making it clear that
the need for adaptation solutions is pressing. In response to this
climate emergency, the United Nations University Institute for
Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), the Munich Climate
Insurance Initiative (MCII), the University of the South Pacific
(USP), The University of the West Indies (UWI) and the United Nations
Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP) have established the
Climate
Risk Insurance Research Collaboration (CRIRC)
to facilitate inter-regional South-South learning and research.

“In
addition to cutting emissions, we need to support the most vulnerable
people with options to protect themselves against the impacts of more
frequent and more intense weather events,” said Soenke Kreft, MCII
Director. “Climate risk insurance can be such a measure if it is
applied within a mix of other disaster risk reduction strategies.
While the field of climate risk insurance has made great advancements
in the last decade, it is still considered as an innovation in the
field of climate change, and as such, it can benefit greatly from
more systematic approaches, enhanced knowledge sharing and networking
between regions and among different actors.”

With
CRIRC, the partners have established a framework for coordination and
collaboration on research, development and publication of academic
research and policy papers on disaster risk finance, insurance and
social payment.

One
of the first research priorities for CRIRC is the informal economy in
island states in the Pacific, which consists of informal
entrepreneurs, who are vibrant and visible players creating a
livelihood for themselves and their families. Working as fresh
produce sellers, handicraft creators, beekeepers and fish and crab
sellers, they operate outside the realm of formal legal protection
and without easy access to formal financial and business support
systems. They work as single-person operations or as micro or family
enterprises, and women are predominant in these types of
income-generating activities.

The
extent and impact of damage caused by weather events, such as
cyclones, means that many governments of Small Island States face
critical challenges in ensuring their financial resilience to climate
change and natural hazards. They often only have restricted options
to secure funds for recovery and reconstruction without compromising
their long-term fiscal balance.

The
research partners therefore aim to work together to explore the
socio-economic and regulatory needs and demands for disaster risk
finance in small islands countries, to develop and assess innovative
risk financing mechanisms, and to identify how disaster risk
financing tools can be integrated into countries’ risk management
and disaster response toolboxes.

“The
University of the West Indies is duty-bound and privileged to be a
partner in this initiative,” stated Professor Sir Hilary Beckles,
Vice-Chancellor of The UWI. “As an activist university with regard
to Climate Resilience, and one situated within a region where climate
change is an existential threat, we regard it our duty to contribute
our expertise in climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction,
and sustainable development; and to strengthen our ties with
academics, national and local authorities of the Pacific Island
Countries, who are facing many of the climate change-related
challenges that we do.”

These
sentiments are echoed by Dr. Donovan Campbell (UWI's focal point for
CRIRC) who noted that the recent losses and damages associated with
disasters across the Caribbean has brought climate risk insurance
into sharp focus. In the absence of easy access to debt and
affordable, reliable insurance solutions, a large portion of the
economic losses stemming from climate change events are currently
being borne by governments, communities and households supported by
development partners. Impact is felt for many years, resulting in an
emerging population in climate poverty. CRIRC aims to identify ways
to prevent this climate poverty in Small Islands Countries through
improved climate insurance research cooperation and coordination.

The
United Nations Capital Development Fund managed Pacific Financial
Inclusion Programme has been at the forefront of pioneering market
based micro-insurance solutions for the mass market in the Pacific
through its work on financial inclusion in the region for over a
decade. “We are excited to be actively collaborating with MCII and
the three academic institutions, USP, UWI and UNU through this
cooperation that aims to foster an active research and learning
agenda in the new Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme
being developed” said Krishnan Narasimhan, UNCDF PFIP Deputy
Programme Manager. The expertise and familiarity of PFIP in the
Pacific and its ability to bring together public and private sector
for ecosystem and market systems development will add value to the
cooperation.

About
The University of the West Indies (UWI)

The
UWI is an internationally respected university rooted in the
Caribbean. Its operations spread across the English-speaking
Caribbean archipelago encompassing five campuses: Mona
in Jamaica, St.
Augustine
in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave
Hill
in Barbados, Five
Islands
in Antigua and Barbuda, Open
Campus,
and international centres in North America, Latin America, Asia, and
Africa. Ranked among the top 600 universities in the world for 2019
and 2020, and the 40 best universities in Latin America and the
Caribbean for 2018 and 2019 by Times Higher Education, The UWI is the
only Caribbean-based University to make these prestigious lists. In
recognition of its world class research on climate change and
sustainable development, the International Association of
Universities (IAU) selected The UWI as its global leader in the
mobilisation of research and advocacy for the achievement of a
climate-smart world. For more, visit www.uwi.edu.

About
the University of the South Pacific (USP)

USP is the premier provider of higher education in the Pacific region and an international centre of excellence for teaching, research consulting, and training on all aspects of Pacific culture and the environment. The university has campuses across the region and is owned by the governments of twelve Pacific island countries. https://www.usp.ac.fj/

About
the United Nations Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP)

PFIP is a Pacific-wide programme that has helped over two million Pacific islanders gain access to financial services and financial education. It achieves these results by funding innovation with financial services and delivery channels, supports policy and regulatory initiatives, and the empowerment of consumers. It is jointly administered by the UN Capital Development Fund and the United Nations Development Programme. http://www.pfip.org/

About
the United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human
Security (UNU-EHS)

Based
in Bonn, Germany, UNU-EHS conducts research on risks and adaptation
related to environmental hazards and global change. The institute’s
research promotes policies and programmes to reduce these risks,
while taking into account the interplay between environmental and
societal factors. Research areas include climate change adaptation by
incorporating insurance-related approaches, environmentally induced
migration and social vulnerability, ecosystem-based solutions to
adaptation and disaster risk reduction, and models and tools to
analyse vulnerability and risks linked to natural hazards, with a
focus on urban space and rural-urban interfaces. UNU-EHS also offers
the joint Master of Science degree programme “Geography of
Environmental Risks and Human Security” with the University of Bonn
and hosts international PhD projects and courses on global issues of
environmental risks and sustainable development. https://ehs.unu.edu/

About
the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII)

MCII
was initiated as a non-profit organization by insurers, research
institutes and NGOs in April 2005 in response to the growing
realization that insurance solutions can play a role in adaptation to
climate change, as suggested in the Framework Convention on Climate
Change and the Kyoto Protocol. This initiative is hosted at the
United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human
Security (UNU-EHS). It focuses on bringing solutions for the risks
posed by climate change with a view to protect the most vulnerable
people. MCII provides a forum and gathering place for
insurance-related expertise applied to climate change issues. For
more information, please visit: www.climate-insurance.org