While the economic losses from natural hazards are on the rise, the widening global insurance protection gap presents another problem. More specifically, the global insurance protection gap reached 1.4 trillion USD in 2020, with 76% of natural catastrophe losses uninsured (Artemis, 2020). For high-income countries, the insurance gap has reduced slightly in recent years (Munich Re, 2021), however, there is still a considerable gap in low- and middle-income countries where natural hazards and poor infrastructure are estimated to cost households and firms 390 billion a year USD (World Bank, 2019). Based on this, local governments face challenges in stepping-up the financial resilience to increasing natural disasters partly due to limited availability and access to financial resources.
This session will discuss how insurance can support this process by shifting municipal disaster risk to the private sector, which provides a high risk bearing capacity. The session will start with a quick introduction to the benefits of insurance for natural disaster risk management in municipalities, followed by a brief overview of insurance solutions by ICLEI and UNCDF. Participants will then engage in interactive group discussions with key guiding questions to assess specific municipal needs, responsibilities, and institutional settings to cope with natural disasters. The session will conclude with a presentation from
each of the groups, while highlighting their outcomes.
Target Audience: Policy makers and city officials involved in disaster management, public management, urban sustainability.
Speakers
- Andreas Bollmann, Consultant and Insurance Expert, Faber Consulting AG, Zurich, Switzerland
- Abhisheik Dhawan, Sustainable Finance and Partnerships Specialist, United Nations Capital Development Fund
- Rodrigo Corradi, Deputy Executive Secretary, ICLEI South America
Session overview
13:45-13:50 CEST | Introduction by speakers
Introduction to the benefits of insurance for natural disaster risk management in municipalities.
13:50-14:00 CEST | Brief overview of insurance solutions
- Urban Infrastructure Insurance Facility (UIIF)
- Climate Insurance-Linked Resilient Infrastructure Financing (CILRIF)
14:00-14:25 CEST | Interactive group discussion in breakout rooms
- What is your experience with past natural disaster events and the need/availability
(demand/supply) of financial resources to cope with their impacts?
- Does the government already purchase any disaster insurance for public / urban
infrastructure assets? If yes, is there any entity that coordinates purchase of cover and
provides decision makers with technical assistance in this regard?
- What are your legal responsibilities and obligations in the aftermath of disasters on the
one hand, and what would you like to address if you had the resources on the other
hand?
- Existing financial instruments to cope with disasters
14:25-14:35 CEST | Report back the key outcomes of the interactive group discussions to the main group by three
nominated persons
14:35-14:45 CEST | Final remarks and wrap-up by the moderator
