Expert Consultation Workshop on Evidence for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Effectiveness of Risk Insurance: Challenges and Opportunities
by Md. Shahin Mia
The Expert Consultation Workshop on Evidence for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Effectiveness of Risk Insurance: Challenges and Opportunities was jointly organised by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), the Southeast Asia Disaster Prevention Research Initiative (SEADPRI-UKM), EEMAUSAM Weather Risk Management Services Private Limited, International Agriculture for Development (IAFD) and the University of the Philippines (UPLB) on 4‐5 July 2014 at Hotel Puri Pujangga, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, Malaysia. The purpose of the workshop was to assess the benefits and costs accrued through insurance, to evaluate barriers limiting insurance penetration, to identify interventions for greater insurance penetration leading to realisation of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction, and to identify alternative approaches to insurance for targeting those who cannot be reached through insurance. The Workshop was officiated by Prof. Dr. Joy Jacqueline Pereira, Principal Fellow of SEADPRI-UKM.
The workshop was attended by experts, researchers, and officials of donor agencies and NGOs from various countries, mainly from the Asia Pacific region. A total of 18 papers were presented in five sessions: (1) overview session: effectiveness of insurance programs; (2) country policy environments and issues limiting scaling up insurance; (3) indicators for overcoming technical, policy and affordability bottlenecks to scale up insurance; (4) NGO experiences in implementing insurance products in agriculture with a focus on measuring the effectiveness of the insurance products; (5) methodologies for assessing insurance effectiveness. The key activity was to identify the indicators for assessing the effectiveness of insurance initiatives.
The Workshop successfully achieved its objectives, focusing on various aspects of insurance effectiveness, challenges and opportunities. The issues discussed during the workshop include the effectiveness of insurance in terms of climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR), the barriers (such as technical, policy, and affordability) to scale up insurance at community level, particularly for the poor and vulnerable, and the indicators for overcoming these barriers from the aspects of the government and the insurance industry. The discussion also focused on the experiences of NGOs and donor agencies in implementing insurance programmes in the agricultural sector. Finally, a number of indicators were identified for assessing and comparing the effectiveness of different insurance products and other risk management options. During the workshop, the experts, researchers and practitioners provided insights on various aspects of bottlenecks and the effectiveness of insurance programmes that might be useful for different stakeholders – insurance beneficiaries, delivery agencies (NGOs, MFIs, and the insurance industry) and governments to scale up insurance at the community level.
