UNDP launches new Insurance and Risk Finance Facility
UNDP launches new Insurance and Risk Finance Facility
UNDP launches new Insurance and Risk Finance Facility
The new Insurance and Risk Finance Facility (IRFF) aims to build financial resilience and bridge the $1.4 trillion global health, mortality, and disaster protection gap.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today announced a new flagship initiative — the Insurance and Risk Finance Facility (IRFF), within its Finance Sector Hub.
The Facility will strengthen the protection of vulnerable communities from socio-economic, climate and health-related disasters, by significantly increasing the role of insurance and risk-financing in development.
According to the German Government has contributed €35 million in funding for the Facility to advance delivery of the InsuResilience Global Partnership’s Vision 2025, which was presented at the UN Climate Action Summit 2022.
Economic losses from disasters cost 77 poorest countries an average of US$29 billion annually – with only 3% covered by insurance, forcing many to bear response and reconstruction expenses alone, or rely on aid. In 2020 alone, 980 disasters caused by natural hazards cost the global economy over US$210 billion.
Added that, Following the crisis, 150 million people have been pushed back into poverty.“ In a world of growing and converging risks, developing countries and their communities are often the worst affected and the least able to rebuild and recover.
Without financial resilience, the most vulnerable can be locked into a downward spiral of debt and poverty.
Faced with these challenges, insurance and risk-finance products, tools and services can secure our critical infrastructure, protect our agriculture and businesses, and preserve critical ecosystems that make life on earth possible.” stated Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator.
Insurance and risk financing provide a critical safety net, protecting assets, lives and livelihoods from the impact of crises. The IRFF will be present across five regions globally, working with the insurance industry and government to transform markets.
The ambition is to co-create insurance and risk finance solutions in over 50 developing countries by 2025, embed them in public financial decision-making, and greatly contribute to the InsuResilience Vision 2025 target of protecting 500 million poor and vulnerable people by 2025.
“Building the financial resilience of countries and communities is a critical element of tackling climate change and safeguarding past and future development gains.
Germany is strongly committed to the InsuResilience Global Partnership to enhance protection from climate impacts.
Risk finance and insurance solutions enable the delivery of effective disaster response and help countries to be better prepared for the impacts of climate change and other shocks by reducing humanitarian impacts, building people’s capacity to recover more quickly and strengthening community resilience.
In 2020 alone, more than 200 projects in over 100 countries contributed to the InsuResilience Global Partnership, protecting an additional 137 million people”, says
“The global community made a commitment at the UN Climate Summit in 2019, and all of us – governments, industry, the development sector need to step up our work to enable climate -proof development.”
Story by Fada Amakye from Daily Sun 106.com
