The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Kamal Kishore, has called for more homegrown solutions in the Pacific region to tackle disaster risks and close the protection gap. 

Speaking at the recent launch of a multi-peril parametric insurance product in Samoa, Kishore, who is also the head of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), praised the solution as a potential turning point for vulnerable communities in Samoa.

“Insurance solutions that are transplanted from advanced economies to emerging economies do not work,” Kishore said.

The launch saw Samoa’s climate-vulnerable communities – farmers, fishers and MSMEs – for the first time gain access to an insurance product that protects them against the financial impacts of extreme climate events.

The product’s parametric feature—with rapid payouts and no need for loss verification—offers protection against cyclones, earthquakes, excess rainfall, and droughts. Equally vital, it includes indemnity coverage for funeral expenses, term life, personal accidents, house fires, and hospital stays.

“We are looking at multiple perils, not just cyclones, but also droughts, extreme rainfall and earthquakes and bundling that also with everyday risk,” Kishore said. 

“That’s really something that gives me a sense that we are being sensitive to what communities want.”

The insurance industry’s broader role in bridging the protection gap also drew attention, particularly in Samoa, where just 9.8 percent of the population has any form of coverage. 

The country regularly experiences extreme weather events that devastate homes and farms and force families to drain savings or borrow at steep rates to recover. The low insurance uptake creates a protection gap between what is insured and what is not.

The new parametric product, together with a pilot anticipatory action insurance scheme delivering funds 24-48 hours before a hazard based on early warning triggers, aims to break that cycle.

Yet, Kishore stressed that success hinged on three principles.

First, the solutions must be homegrown and not imported. Second, trust building was essential.

“There has to be a trust between communities and insurance providers,” he said. 

“It will take time, but this is really something worth investing in.”

Third, Kishore pushed for linking risk transfer with risk reduction, in a system where insurance pays out quickly after hazards strike, while incentivising prevention and investments in risk reduction.

“For example, if the insurance cover includes insurance against earthquakes and if they are investing in making their buildings more earthquake resilient, I think over a period of time, the premium must come down,” Kishore said.

“If the premium doesn’t come down and the risk transfer and the risk reduction are completely disconnected, how are we incentivising good behaviour in terms of risk informed development, risk informed behaviour at the level of household as well?”

The product was developed by local insurer, Samoa Surety Insurance, and the UN Capital Development Fund, UN Development Programme and UN University Institute for Environment and Human Security through the Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme. 

The initiative is supported by the Governments of Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. 

Kishore sees the launch, together with the introduction of a pilot anticipatory action product developed with UNDRR, as a blueprint for something bigger in Samoa and the region. 

“If we did these three things, we will be able to have a completely different conversation in five or ten years from now,” he said.

“We will not be talking about protection gap but about how we have closed that gap, what are the lessons and how we can innovate even further.”

Sheldon Chanel is Communications Officer with UNDP in the Pacific.