Page - 486 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

486 J.Linnerooth-Bayeret al. basedonthe‘solidarity’and‘accountability’principlesaccompaniedbysignificant outside interventionscan indeedsupportWIMobjectives. 21.2 InsuringClimateRisks:AnOverview 21.2.1 BriefHistory ReferencetoinsurancewasfirstmadebytheAllianceofSmallIslandStates(AOSIS), whichsuggestedin1991thataninternationalinsurancepoolfundedbyindustrialised partiesbeestablished tocompensate small-islandand low-lyingdevelopingnations for impacts resultingfromsealevel rise(INC1991;chapterbyMechleretal.2018). TheinsurancemechanismproposedbyAOSISwasnotaimedatestablishingprivate sector risk transfer, but geared towards a compensation fund to addressL&Dfrom sea level rise.As such, itwasnot strictly insurance in a technical sense, but a com- pensationmechanism (Linnerooth-Bayer et al. 2003).What remained from these early discussions is reflected inArticle 4.8 of theUNFCCC,which calls uponPar- ties to “consider” actions, including those related to insurance, tomeet the specific needs and concerns of developing countrieswith respect to the adverse impacts of climatechange (UnitedNations1992). Insubsequentyears,AOSISaswell asother organisations, such as theMunichClimate Insurance Initiative (MCII), developed proposals for the use of insurancemechanisms to address climate change impacts and risks (AOSIS 2008;MCII 2008).Notably, both theAOSIS andMCII propos- als brought a compensatoryor curativemechanism for loss anddamage in through thebackdoor by including a risk layer in the insurance arrangement thatwouldbe fullyfinancedbydevelopedcountries;althoughnotdifferentiatingbetweenclimate- changeattributedimpactsandotherriskdrivers.Inaddition,bothproposalscalledfor increasedfinancing forDRRprojects as part of aholistic climate riskmanagement approach. The proposals informed the negotiating text at COP 15 inCopenhagen in 2009, andwent on to influence negotiations on theL&DmechanismatCOP19 inWarsaw in2013.Subsequently, insurancehas featuredprominently on theWIM agenda,mostnotablyon theworkplansof theWIMexecutive committee (ExCoM) (UNFCCC2014,2016). Recognition of insurance as a potent response to climate risk has been subse- quently underscored by theG7 InsuResilience initiative, and recently upgraded to theG20andV20partnership(mostvulnerable20countries),whichambitiouslyaims at insuring400million currently uninsuredpeople invulnerable countries by2020 (G7 2015; InsuResilience 2017). Interestingly, these efforts to enhance the role of insurance inaddressingdisasterandclimaterisks indevelopingcountriesoccurpre- dominantlyoutsidetheUNFCCC’sL&Ddiscussionsandare increasinglypresented aspartofbroaderdevelopment support.