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Insurance and risk transfer

The process of formally or informally shifting the financial consequences of particular risks from one party to another, whereby a household, community, enterprise or State authority will obtain resources from the other party after a disaster occurs, in exchange for ongoing or compensatory social or financial benefits provided to that other party. Risk insurance is a key disaster risk management activity.

This theme covers aspects of disaster risk financing, catastrophe bonds, financial resilience, and micro-insurance.

Latest Insurance & risk transfer additions in the Knowledge Base

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More households than ever are under-insured. Here’s what needs to be done

Rising insurance costs leave many Australians uninsured, worsening cyclone damage recovery. The Cyclone Reinsurance Pool lowers premiums but is insufficient. Experts urge insurer reforms and climate-adaptive rebuilding to address growing disaster risks.

Conversation Media Group, the
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Insuring the world of tomorrow

This column examines how escalating disaster costs, market failures, and the need for better prevention urge to redefine societies' risk management mechanisms in an increasingly uncertain climate landscape.

VOXEU/ CEPR
A farmer tends to his maize crop in Talquezal, Guatemala
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Parametric weather index insurance solution for Ecuador’s rice and maize smallholder farmers

To protect smallholder maize and rice farmers from climate-related hazards, the InsuResilience Solutions Fun partnered with an international consortium to develop the country's first parametric insurance solution for smallholder farmers.

InsuResilience Solutions Fund
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Implementation update: Launch of US$9.25M climate risk insurance to protect vulnerable communities from the impacts of drought in Syria

The Insurance Development Forum launched a US$9.25 million macroinsurance policy for Syria that will trigger a payout in the event of a drought in strategic food production areas, designed to support the World Food Programme's operations.

Insurance Development Forum
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New Mexico eyes unique fix for escalating wildfire insurance costs

Fire insurance is becoming increasingly expensive and hard to come by in areas ravaged by wildfire in recent years, fueled by high paid loss ratios among insurers. New Mexico's state government is looking to intervene.

NPR
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Economic impact of the Los Angeles wildfires

This article presents estimated economic impacts of L.A. wildfires in January 2025.

University of California, Los Angeles
Flood - Queensland, Australia, 2011
Update
How climate change is reshaping real estate and economic geography

Climate change is an economic, affordability, and cost-of-living issue. These implications were made clear in recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Housing, in particular, is a growing concern.

Monash University
Suva, Fiji, street
Update
Insuring resilience: How parametric solutions are transforming climate adaptation in the Pacific

The Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme (PICAP) is pioneering innovative and locally-led climate risk insurance solutions, including parametric insurance, tailored to the unique challenges of Pacific Island countries.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
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