Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time. The Pacific, a region highly vulnerable to natural hazards has increasingly faced the devastating impacts of naturally induced catastrophes and disasters due to climate change. As a result, many communities have been left displaced and unable to rebuild due to the associated cost of damage.
The Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme (PICAP) was launched in December 2020 with the aim to build and improve the financial preparedness and resilience of Pacific Islanders against climate change and natural hazards through the development and implementation of market-based meso and micro insurance schemes.
The inception phase of the Programme (2021-2022) saw innovative and affordable parametric insurance products deployed in Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu covering smallholder farmers, fishers, market vendors and small businesses.
Following the successes of the Programme in the Pacific during its first inception year 2021, UNCDF is now opportunistically expanding the value proposition to other Pacific Island Countries including Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Kiribati as well as other geographies including the African and Caribbean regions.
Women, youth and MSME who are disproportionately affected by natural disasters will be the target segments of the Programme. Heavily reliant sectors - agriculture, fisheries, retail and tourism - will also be of focus.
The ‘Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme is a multi-year Programme that is jointly implemented by UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN University- Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS).
The programme receives financial support from the Governments of New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom.
The Fiji component 'Scaling Climate Disaster Risk Financing Framework and Parametric Insurance' project in Fiji receives exclusive funding from the Governments of Luxembourg (through the Drua Incubator) and India through the India-UN Development Partnership Fund, managed by the UN Office for South-South Cooperation.
