UN, Samoa Surety Insurance to unveil "transformative" climate solution

Samoa Surety Insurance and the United Nations will unveil a groundbreaking bundled insurance product this Friday designed to safeguard low-income households in Samoa from the financial impacts of extreme climate events and other risks.

The product was developed through close consultation with local farming communities, fishers, micro-businesses and informal sector workers, whose livelihoods face growing threats from the devastating effects of tropical cyclones, floods, droughts, and earthquakes.

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he policy introduces a pioneering parametric scheme for the climatic shocks component of the product. Under the scheme, payouts are triggered by pre-determined disaster events such as cyclones, excess rainfall, droughts, or earthquakes, rather than actual losses.

Unlike traditional insurance, this approach requires no loss verification, and ensures swift financial assistance reaches affected communities in the immediate aftermath of a disaster event.

Only 9.8% of Samoans have any type of insurance, which creates a significant financial protection gap between which losses are insured and which are not.

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