This brainstorming workshop is co-hosted by Santam, FSD Africa and InsuResilience
The rise in climate-related hazards and catastrophic weather increases economic risks for low-income and middle-income countries. While insurance allows for faster recovery from disasters and increases resilience to future disasters, low-income and middle-income countries have large insurance protection gaps. The Insurance Development Forum estimates that USD160 billion of assets are uninsured in emerging economies.
Limitations of publicly available data and disaster risk models to effectively predict the disasters impose barriers for public and private sector management and mitigation of disaster-related risks. During the April 2019 UNEP PSI Africa Market Event in Lagos, a working group[1] was formed to drive collaboration to address this challenge. The aim of the working group is to improve participants’ understanding of risk to drive adaptation for more resilient communities and a more sustainable, insurable Africa.
To take this initiative forward, the working group is hosting a workshop to collaborate on consolidating climate data, models and flood maps. This workshop and subsequent collaboration are necessary since, while some key datasets exist, they are not always known or used by decision-makers to mitigate and respond to disasters.
Aim of the workshop
This workshop aims to strengthen collaboration between regional insurers and reinsurers, global partners on data and modelling, and city governments, so that insurers can underwrite a wider range of risks within an ever-changing African urban risk environment. Specific objectives are as follows:
If you are interested in learning more about the workshop or our climate risk finance work, please contact Kate Rinehart-Smit
[1] The founding members of the working group are from NamibRe, Santam, University of Cape Town, Continental Re, and a Sustainable Finance researcher. Membership is open to anyone interested in actively contributing to the objectives of the working group.