Risk financing for climate resilience (2013-2015)

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Risk Financing for Rural Climate Resilience in the Greater Mekong Subregion

Rural households and communities in the GMS employ a wide range of strategies to minimize the impact of climatic shocks. These include crop and labor diversification, personal savings, investments in semi-liquid assets such as livestock, and informal risk pooling arrangements among peers.

While helping communities cope with events with low and moderate impacts, these strategies may be insufficient as weather-related shocks become more extreme and frequent with climate change. A lack of effective climate risk financing mechanisms creates a cycle of vulnerability and compromises long-term development. To deal with extreme shocks, many poor households are forced to incur additional debts, distress-sell productive assets, reduce food expenses, and cut education spending. These strategies deplete productive assets, drive poorer households into chronic poverty, and undermine their capacity to adapt to climate change long-term. 

CEP investigated  the role of risk financing in climate change adaptation strategies for rural communities in the GMS. Initial work is a scoping assessment to identify viable local-level financial instruments and strategies that could provide households with financial protection. Community Development Funds will be looked at as a potential mechanism for risk financing initiatives such as savings, micro-insurance, and 'risk pooling.' The study looked at 28 communities involved in the Biodiversity Conservation Corridor project in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam. 

The findings of the study were summarized in a publication:  Risk Financing for Rural Climate Reslience in the Greater Mekong Subregion