A report by the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) identifies seven practical mechanisms for how the cooperative and mutual insurance sector can help drive prevention and disaster risk reduction.
The report is based on an analysis of twenty case studies from ICMIF members around the world. The mechanisms provide a practical way for the cooperative and mutual insurance sector to implement the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the global plan to reduce disaster losses adopted by UN Member States.
Hilde Vernaillen, Chair of ICMIF and Chair of the Management Committee, P&V (Belgium) said: “ICMIF’s partnership with UNDRR seeks to freely share the work that our members are doing to prevent risk in a bid to inspire other insurers to follow their example. By reflecting on these 20 case studies, ICMIF and UNDRR have collaborated to synthesise this intelligence and create a best practice framework that any insurer could adopt.
“It is my sincere wish that our ambitions to encourage more widespread risk prevention are realised, for the sake of humanity and this incredible world that we inhabit. As we turn our attentions to the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) scheduled to take place later this year in Glasgow (UK), I for one will be asking myself, how as a leader of an insurance company, can I do more to prevent hardship, pain and even death in the communities that I serve.”
Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction praised ICMIF and its members for their commitment and action to shift from protection to prevention.
She told ICMIF: “The insurance industry, and particularly the cooperative and mutual sector with its focus on resilience, innovation and community engagement, is uniquely placed to inform and lead such work. ICMIF has a long tradition of supporting countries to enhance national and local disaster risk reduction action; its engagement in the negotiations towards the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction led to the inclusion of clear references to the need for private and financial sector and the regulators in driving and implementing disaster risk reduction.”
The report can be downloaded here: https://www.icmif.org/undrr-icmif-report/.
