SUVA, 14 August 2024 – Fiji’s Ministry of Finance, Strategic Planning, National Development and Statistics led multi-stakeholder consultations in Suva last week to strengthen locally owned risk insight and access to pre-arranged and trigger-based finance against climate and disaster risks. National consultations are an integral part of the G7- and V20-led Global Shield against Climate Risks, which aims to strengthen financial protection and disaster preparedness of countries and communities most affected by climate change. The workshop was supported by the World Food Programme, a longstanding provider of financial protection to strengthen the emergency preparedness and response capacities in the Pacific region.
As a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) in the South Pacific, Fiji is one of several countries that are regularly affected by a range of climatic hazards and longer-term stressors, including floods, tropical cyclones, rising sea levels and coastal erosion. The Global Shield aims to tackle these challenges by increasing financial protection for climate-vulnerable communities and economies and facilitating substantially more and better pre-arranged and trigger-based finance. The Global Shield promotes a demand-driven process, which is owned by the countries’ governments and involves a thorough consultation process across stakeholder groups to identify solutions to bridge the most pressing financial protection gaps.
Mr Shiri Krishna Gounder, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance, stated: “Addressing climate change and enhancing disaster risk financing are not just moral imperatives but economic necessities. By investing in resilience today, we can safeguard our communities, protect our economies, and ensure a sustainable future for generations to come.”
Under the leadership of the Ministry of Finance, last week’s multi-stakeholder consultations addressed financial protection priorities in Fiji, with a stocktake of financial protection programmes that already exist in the country. As the first Global Shield country to initiate the process in the Pacific, Fiji can serve as a model for other SIDS in the region. The country’s national priorities will be incorporated in a regional support package delivered by the Global Shield for the Pacific region.
Dr Andreas Prothmann, Ambassador of Germany to Fiji, pointed out: “There is a growing consensus that countries most vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis need new ways to finance disaster relief, recovery and reconstruction. Pre-arranged financing can enable faster and more effective assistance to vulnerable communities and lower the economic cost and fiscal impact of disasters. The Global Shield aims at addressing these needs by offering instruments that provide quick and reliable funding when climate-related disasters occur.”
Mr Alpha Bah, WFP Representative to the Pacific and Country Director, said: “WFP warmly welcomes the growing presence of the Global Shield in the region and looks forward to collaborating on shared goals. WFP works closely with the Global Shield across the globe to save lives, protect development gains, strengthen resilience and mitigate the impact of climate-related shocks such as droughts, floods and tropical cyclones, through regional risk pools, climate risk insurance and adaptive social protection systems. In addition, WFP signed a high-level agreement with PCRIC this year to support macro-insurance in the Pacific region and facilitated a joint disaster risk financing workshop.”
The 2-day workshop saw engagement and participation from a range of government stakeholders, ministry representatives, local insurance companies, experts from international bodies and high-level representatives from donor countries. Major gaps that participants identified were the need for a holistic approach to climate and disaster risk financing that prioritises community-based approaches and to create inclusive and accessible funding mechanisms. Integrating climate risk into all planning and decision making and leveraging technology to enhance funding mechanisms was highlighted as a key component of this holistic approach. Overall, investing in resilience is essential to safeguard vulnerable communities and economies, and ensuring a sustainable and liveable future for Pacific SIDS.
“We ought to take an ecosystems approach to manage and address climate and disaster risks. It is not about one agency of government, but rather how as a collective we can respond to new and emerging risks in a manner that prevents the deterioration of lives and livelihoods in times of disasters” noted the Co-Director of the Global Shied Secretariat, Mr Nilesh Prakash.
Fiji’s key asks for Climate and Disaster Risk Finance and Insurance (CDRFI) support include but are not limited to:
- Assistance in Risk Assessment and Modelling at a regional and national level that can provide valuable insights into the potential impacts of various climate scenarios, allowing the island nation to plan and develop tailor made solutions more effectively.
- Multi-year support for sovereign risk products to cover multiple climate perils.
- Scale up micro level products and instruments to support the most vulnerable.
- Contingency funds and support for business liquidity so that micro and small businesses can bounce back after floods.
- Address slow onset risks through support for community relocation efforts implemented by the government.
- Deployment of community-based approaches in disaster risk financing and need for technical capacity building including reviews of existing CDRFI instruments to assess its effectiveness.
With the first in-country dialogue now over, the Global Shield Secretariat will proceed with the next steps of developing a robust protection package for consideration by the Financing Vehicles of the Global Shield to deploy pre-arranged financing support to Fiji.
© Kurt Petersen
Launched at COP27 by the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group of Finance Ministers and the Group of Seven (G7), the Global Shield against Climate Risks aims to increase protection for climate-vulnerable economies and communities by providing and facilitating substantially more and better pre-arranged and trigger-based finance against disasters and climate risks. Greater financial protection and faster and more reliable disaster preparedness and response will contribute to effectively responding to losses and damages from climate change.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world’s largest humanitarian organisation saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. With funding support from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), WFP can provide strategic support to Fiji as a critical partner, through the Global Shield package, offering technical assistance on the ‘money-out’ aspect of climate and disaster risk financing, with a view to better integrate disaster risk financing with adaptive social protection.
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PRESS CONTACTS
Global Shield Secretariat: secretariat@globalshield.org
WFP Pacific: Pacific.Contact@wfp.org