Climate Sense

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isk

overnance

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anagement

effects of climate change on agricultural production will have greatest

impact on those least able to cope. Furthermore, traditional insur-

ance products are either too expensive for most farmers or require

unsustainable government subsidies. At the local scale, such index

insurance solutions will, however, require significant enhancement

of the hydro-meteorological measuring network. Although the lack

of extreme event data constitutes a significant hurdle to developing

and verifying index insurance products, this is not a problem faced

by Caribbean countries alone. Instead it is a part of a wider global

problem in which there has been a significant under-investment in

technical and institutional infrastructure related to climate monitor-

ing networks, which are necessary to inform effective climate change

adaptation initiatives. This problem is particularly acute for extreme

event monitoring.

Within the Caribbean the role of collective regional action in

addressing these institutional deficiencies – while also developing

and implementing national and regional climate change adapta-

tion strategies – is critical. CCRIF’s collaborative relationships

with institutions such as CIMH, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency

Response Agency (CDERA) and the University of the West Indies

(UWI) are part of the collective approach required to assist the

region as a whole, as well as the individual nations within it. The

initiative to develop a Caribbean Risk Atlas – led by UWI’s Disaster

Risk Reduction Centre in collaboration with national governments,

CDERA, CCRIF and the World Bank and funded by the Global

Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery – reinforces the role

of close partnerships and alliances in effectively adapting to the

complex impacts of climate change. The creation of a regional risk

atlas will permit greater comparison and exchange of information

between countries. This in turn can be used to better guide risk

mitigation and risk financing strategies on a collective scale, thus

providing maximum benefit to the individual countries.

CCRIF’s modelling platform – which is designed to enable testing

of various future climate input datasets – along with the substantial

research already undertaken by KAC in this field could find potential

applications within the risk atlas project. They would

be especially relevant in informing the planning, policy

formulation and decision-making process within national

and regional institutions and governments. As climate

model outputs increase in resolution, CCRIF hopes to

utilize its in-house loss modelling capabilities to provide

significant quantitative information to enhance discus-

sions on economic loss aspects of the climate change

debate. This will, in turn, inform discussions on adapta-

tion strategies and the role of insurance mechanisms in

mitigating future impacts – particularly on small vulner-

able states such as those in the Caribbean.

The scope for innovative risk transfer options as part

of adaptation strategies to growing hydro-meteorological

risks in the Caribbean Basin is therefore promising on

a number of levels. It offers some measure of security

for Caribbean countries through the provision of mecha-

nisms and tools that can be harnessed to mitigate and

adapt to the ever changing risks of climate variability and

extremes associated with climate change. The potential

of these mechanisms is especially relevant for develop-

ing countries, as they provide a means through which

they can raise a reliable source of post-disaster recovery

funding in the occurrence of a catastrophe event. This

reduces, to some extent, the disproportionally large

economic and human burdens created by climate change.

But the role and utility of these instruments cannot be

limited to the tangible benefits that they can provide in

the immediate aftermath of a catastrophe event. Their

benefits can be expanded to include the investments

that they facilitate in preventative initiatives and the

adoption of holistic risk management programmes

based on assessments of the vulnerability of these

states. CCRIF intends to leverage its cross-departmental

role to promote development of an explicit, high level

‘Country Risk Officer’ position. The role would involve

the coordination of the holistic risk management strat-

egy required both by individual countries and across

regions in the face of growing hydro-meteorological,

financial, health and social risks – many linked to

climate change. Investments in the development of

supporting technological and infrastructural capacities

that build critical information databases that might not

have previously existed, can also be powerful tools to

inform wider policy and decision-making processes.

These supporting investments can have benefits that go

far beyond present day relief; indeed they are invest-

ments for the future security of the region.

Risk transfer instruments are evidently an integral

part of a comprehensive disaster risk management

process – but they by no means constitute a complete

solution to the current and anticipated risks posed by

climate change. Adaptation to and mitigation of the

risks associated with growing hydro-meteorological

hazards and vulnerabilities within the Caribbean

Basin requires a multi-dimensional, collective

regional and domestic response. Risk transfer instru-

ments can play a crucial role within such a wide and

comprehensive process.

Damage on Grand Turk, in the Turks & Caicos Islands, after the passing of

Hurricane Ike in 2008