"Experience of Flood and Climate Insurance in South Asia"

Climate risks have always been a key vulnerability for smallholder farmers. Protecting against floods and providing risk cover against losses due to floods has been a major area of concern for governments around the world. Insurance is an important component in managing agricultural risks from these disaster events. For example, in India, nearly 30 million smallholder farmers are affected by floods every year.

In 2016, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) through its CGIAR Research program CCAFS, WLE and ICAR launched its Index-Based Flood Insurance (IBFI) for India and Bangladesh, which is designed to safeguard farmers in locations at high risk of flooding. IBFI combines hydrological modelling and new and freely available high-resolution satellite images from ESA and USGS. The scheme went live from 2017 to 2019 covering 1,200 households with a total insurance payout to eligible farmers of approx. INR 12,94,030. Another new initiative “BICSA – Bundled Solutions of Index Insurance with Seed systems and climate information for agriculture resilience” to promote large-scale implementation of this integrated risk management approach can result in significant development in the agriculture sector. In summary, solutions from climate insurance has the potential to be a part of a more wide-ranging and multi-faceted approach to make sure that South Asia remains climate resilient in years to come.

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