An international initiative with the goal to provide insurance to 400 more million poor and vulnerable people by 2020, the InsuResilience Global Partnership for Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance Solutions, was launched today at the 2017 UN Climate Conference in Bonn.
Germany launched the Global Partnership with the Ethiopian Chair of the V20 – a group of 49 of the most vulnerable countries to climate change – the United Kingdom and the World Bank.
“The Global Partnership is a practical response to the needs of those who suffer loss because of climate change. And I am very proud that it has happened under Fiji’s Presidency of COP, ” said the COP23 President and Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.
“At the same time, it is a means of preparing for a more resilient form of development for those who will have to adapt to the great challenge of climate change,” he said.
The Global Partnership supports data and risk analysis, technical assistance and capacity building, solutions’ design of concrete risk finance and insurance solutions and provides support for schemes’ implementation, monitoring and evaluation efforts.
The insurance schemes focus on the meso and micro level benefiting smallholders, the urban poor and other vulnerable groups.
In the Global Partnership’s framework, key players from developing and industrialised countries, international organisations and development banks, the private sector, civil society and the scientific community will work together to develop practical solutions to provide financial protection against climate risks.
Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, said; “people devastated by recent weather events and communities vulnerable to climatic impacts are looking to the nations meeting in Bonn for an answer, for support and hope for the future.”
“This new and higher ambition initiative represents one, shining, example of what can be delivered when progressive governments, civil society and the private sector join hands with creativity and determination to provide solutions,” she said.
The InsuResilience Initiative was initially launched in 2015 by the G7 group of nations under the German Presidency.
It’s now attracted more additional funding and many more partners; Thomas Silberhorn, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, announced support for the new global partnership of $125 million U.S. as part of today’s launch.
This follows the 30 million pounds Sterling commitment made by UK Government in July 2017 to the Partnership through its Centre for Global Disaster Protection.
