MAINSAIL_issue 10

} Ocean Risk Initiative
Continued from page 44
Ocean Unite and AXA XL (XL Catlin at the
time) alongside other partners, including the
IUCN convened the world’s first Ocean Risk
Summit in Bermuda in May 2018, bringing
together leaders in politics, finance, academia,
science, the ocean community and insurance
to deepen our understanding of the challenges
we will face from ocean derived hazards and
cultivate collaborative solutions. We explored
issues from national security and migration to
food security and global health, and what was
absolutely clear was how important it would
be for these different sectors to come together,
and to develop a common understanding and
language to combat ocean risk.
Since the Summit, AXA XL and Ocean Unite
have deepened our partnership. A new
Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance or
ORRAA, is being built, together with partners
including the Government of Canada, The
Nature Conservancy, Bank of America, the
UNDP, InterAmerica Development Bank (IDB),
Willis Towers Watson, Global Resilience
Partnership, Stockholm Resilience Center, and
the conservation organisation Rare.
The Alliance will bring multiple players
together to pioneer breakthrough insurance
and finance instruments that drive
investment into coastal natural capital, green
infrastructure, rebuilding marine biodiversity
and growing resilience to ocean change. It is
focused on addressing ocean risk and building
resilience in the communities that need it
most, particularly in vulnerable coastal areas
and small island developing states. It also
links well with the Sustainable Blue Finance
Principles that have been developed by the
European Union and WWF.
We were delighted when, with leadership from
Canada and France, the Alliance was welcomed
by the G7 Environment Ministers meeting this
past May in France. The ministers noted the
under-utilization of economic instruments and
supported ORRAA to expand knowledge, build
resilience and drive investment, innovation,
finance, insurance, expertise and – crucially –
political will. All 7 countries as well as the
European Union, Fiji, Mexico, Norway and
India agreed to become part of the Alliance.
Image by kolibri5 from Pixabay
We are excited about the ability for ORRAA
to pilot and scale solutions. Examples of
projects include working to promote resilient
and sustainable small-scale fishing practices
through the development of micro-insurance
products and micro-finance loans. Also, life
insurance policies for small-scale fishers,
benefiting the financial resilience of families,
particularly women. AXA XL and The Nature
Conservancy (TNC) are developing a Blue
Carbon Resilience Credit, giving both a carbon
and resilience value to mangroves, ecosystems
which are under particular threat.
The Alliance will also use insurance and finance
tools to incentivise environmental stewardship
for biodiversity, and the development of
sovereign and individual parametric insurance
measures for coral reefs and mangroves which
Image by Claudia Beer from Pixabay
THE NATURE
CONSERVANCY (TNC)
ARE DEVELOPING A
BLUE CARBON
RESILIENCE CREDIT,
GIVING BOTH A
CARBON AND
RESILIENCE VALUE
TO MANGROVES,
ECOSYSTEMS
WHICH ARE UNDER
PARTICULAR THREAT.
will ensure swift payouts enabling faster
restoration, which is known to reduce harm to
both the environment and increase community
resilience.
We are looking forward to working with our
partners as we build the Alliance over the
coming months and years. MS
Courtesy: Virgin
This is a guest blog and may not represent the
views of Virgin.com. Please see virgin.com/terms
for more details.
This post is part of a series produced by Virgin
Unite in partnership with Ocean Unite, an
initiative to unite and activate powerful voices
for ocean-conservation action
Image by Marcello Rabozzi from Pixabay
Image by David Mark from Pixabay
46 } Issue 10