Pacific ministers propose establishing resilience, climate insurance funds

By Delia Paul

The Pacific Islands Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) considered proposals to establish a financing facility to channel funds towards resilient infrastructure, and a climate insurance facility to protect against the effects of climate change on Smaller Island States (SIS).

Around 100 participants representing member States, the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific (CROP), and UN and multilateral partners took part in FEMM, which was organized on the theme of ‘Building Economic Resilience of Pacific Island Countries Through Sustainable Financing Flows’ in Koror, Palau, from 25-27 April.

The Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, Palau and Samoa developed the proposal for a financing facility for resilient infrastructure. Tuvalu initiated the proposal for a climate insurance facility, which is now supported by a taskforce of SIS members and development partners.

Other topics of discussion at the meeting were the role of the private sector in national and regional approaches to adaptation to climate change, and the role of regional superannuation and provident funds in financing regional infrastructure. Ministers also reported on progress on regional work around the SDGs, and the development of regional statistics capacity for SDG reporting.

In an article published in the lead-up to the meeting, Meg Taylor, Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), highlighted the existing gap in direct investment for building resilience, citing research that every dollar spent for this purpose will save seven dollars that would otherwise need to be spent on response and recovery.

She stated that the proposed Pacific Resilience Facility will seek to strengthen the financial resilience of Pacific island countries; provide financing options for resilient development; strengthen strategic partnerships with donors and development partners; and build the capacity of national disaster risk budgeting and financing. Taylor also noted that the Climate Insurance Facility will insure against slow-onset and extreme weather events that are currently not covered by existing instruments. She referred to relevant international policy frameworks for this work, mentioning: the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change; the 2015 Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR); and the 2016 Framework for Resilient Development in the Pacific, which covers action on climate change, disaster risk management (DRM) and low-carbon development.