Continued from previous page All these instruments have unique and distinct characteristics and are necessary to finance early response, recovery, and reconstruction needs while protecting a country’s fiscal balance and preventing further disruptions caused by reallocations from other priorities (such as primary health care, education, national security, and social protection, among others). Today in the Caribbean, a few countries such as Jamaica and Saint Lucia are putting in place disaster risk financing policies as a means of improving the understanding of the fiscal risks of natural disasters and recommending various risk financing tools and strategies to support meeting their targets for fiscal and debt sustainability and contributing to their development agenda. Essentially, within the context of the range of DRF instruments, CCRIF, through its parametric insurance products, really is about: providing quick liquidity allowing governments to quickly support the most vulnerable in their population immediately after a disaster reducing budget volatility not increasing the debt stock of countries – parametric insurance will not result in an increase in debt stock as it is not a form of disaster relief as are credit facilities offering diverse products for a range of perils and economic sectors and industries, offering products and services not readily available in traditional insurance markets But can CCRIF do more, especially in the face of a changing climate which no longer is a threat but which is already with us? Can CCRIF do more in an environment where insurance penetration is low and where the private insurance market is still behind in providing solutions that ‘leave no one behind’? Can CCRIF do more in an environment where there still exist pockets of poverty across our islands and where vulnerability is still high? In short, the answer is yes, and it lies in the notion of scaling up – scaling up CCRIF. Scaling up CCRIF in the facing of a changing climate means: Enabling existing CCRIF members to increase coverage for the perils they are now covered for Adding new members to the Facility and risk pool as an expanded membership will expand the total level of coverage in the region and allow for further reduction in premium costs Adding products for additional perils such as flooding, and for ecosystem services such as shoreline protection provided by coral reefs and mangroves; making available coverage in key economic sectors such as agriculture, tourism; and focusing on key infrastructure such as housing stock, schools and hospitals – many of which are old and are susceptible not just to hydro-meteorological hazards but also to earthquakes Accessing additional capital and further strengthening partnerships with regional and international development partners Increasing access by vulnerable persons to microinsurance and promoting inclusive insurance Building the capacity of CCRIF as an organisation and its research and development potential CCRIF will continue to work with countries and do its part in advancing the sustainability agenda of this region! (CCRIF is a strategic partner of CARICAD, formalised in an MOU agreed in 2019.) 19
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