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THEY NEED YOU

In recent rounds of negotiations, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) delegates have recognized the need for the international community to address the cost and damages from weather-related extremes.

”Consequent to rising exposure and vulnerability to weather-related extreme events, comprehensive and holistic risk and vulnerability reduction strategies should be a core part of adaptation to extreme weather events.” ”Dr. Joern Birkmann

The urgency for such action was further underscored by a new joint report from the World Bank and the United Nations that says annual global losses from natural disasters could triple to US$185 billion by the end of this century, with climate change potentially bumping that up by $28-$68 billion each year from tropical cyclones alone.

This trend is mainly due to changes in land use and the increasing concentration of people and capital in vulnerable areas like coastal regions that are prone to windstorms or fertile river basins exposed to floods. And its toll needs to be addressed.

“Consequent to rising exposure and vulnerability to weather-related extreme events, comprehensive and holistic risk and vulnerability reduction strategies should be a core part of adaptation to extreme weather events,” says Dr. Joern Birkmann, a chief expert on the topic at the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS). Insurance as a useful tool

In the past quarter-century, over 95% of deaths from natural disasters occurred in developing countries and direct economic losses (averaging US$100 billion per annum in the last decade) in relation to national income were more than twice as high in low-income as opposed to high-income countries.

Not only are there considerable differences in the human and economic burden of disasters in developed versus developing countries, but also in relation to insurance coverage. In the richest countries about 30% of losses in the period 1980-2004 (totalling about 3.7% of Gross National Product — GNP) were insured. Alternatively, in low-income countries, only about 1% of losses (amounting to 12.9% of GNP) were insured.

Due to the lack of insurance, combined with high levels of indebtedness and limited donor assistance, many highly exposed developing countries cannot raise sufficient capital to replace or repair damaged assets and restore livelihoods following major disasters. In particular, this exacerbates the impacts of disasters on poverty and development.

It thus becomes ever clearer that there is a need to reduce and transfer risk (to another party, — i.e., the insurer — by means of an insurance policy) in ways conducive to climate change adaptation and sustainable development. Further, this could be complementary to achieving poverty reduction.

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