2017•11•16 Bonn Thomson Reuters
“I know for sure I don’t have much to worry about, because I know my business will no longer suffer,” said Walter Edwin, a beekeeper from St Lucia, about the difference that climate insurance has made in his life.
In an interview with Reuters reporter Laurie Goering at COP23, Edwin explained that he is witnessing the effects of climate change firsthand on his farm. In a year with severe storms, he can lose as much as 40% of the $10,000 he would earn in a good year selling honey and beeswax.
MCII‘s livelihood protection policy (LPP) was designed for people like Edwin, who rarely receive any compensation when extreme weather damages property. The micro-insurance policy developed by the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII) is currently sold in three countries in the Caribbean. It provides quick pay-outs when certain thresholds for wind or rain have been reached that allow policyholders to recover more quickly from extreme weather events. Instead of resorting to “negative coping strategies” (selling land or animals, to raise funds, for example), they can make changes to cut risks and build more resilience.