Climate risk insurance in Pacific Small Island Developing States: possibilities, challenges and vulnerabilities-a comprehensive review.

For the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS), climate change will greatly exacerbate their vulnerability. The PSIDS have a high ranking in the Climate Risk Index and the World Risk Index. Financial losses due to climate-induced disasters, in terms of gross domestic product (GDP), are also high in the Pacific region. While climate risk insurance solutions could play a key role in the efficient distribution of recovery resources, there are many challenges to their successful implementation. Effective climate risk insurance products for the vulnerable sections of these societies are almost non-existent in this part of the world. Among the worst climate-induced disasters to affect the PSIDS are those related to cyclones and floods. These not only adversely impact the welfare of the households affected by these disasters, but they lower the long-term development potential of the countries involved. There is also evidence to suggest that climate-induced disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity over time due to climate change. It is against this background that an inquiry into the necessity for climate risk insurance products in the context of PSIDS should take place. This paper gives a comprehensive review of the literature addressing climate risk insurance as a risk mitigation or climate adaptation tool for managing the climate-induced financial vulnerabilities in the PSIDS. The paper explores the affordability of climate risk insurance, particularly among the vulnerable sections of society, and discusses the challenges of implementing an appropriate climate risk insurance model in the region. Finally, it examines recent climate risk insurance initiatives that have been attempted by multilateral agencies, such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations' Pacific Financial Inclusion Practice (UNCDF), Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme (PICAP), and respective local governments.

Characterisation of pH variations along the Ba River in Fiji utilising the GEF R2R framework during the 2019 sugarcane season.

Within Pacific Small Island Developing States (Pacific SIDS), the ridge-to-reef (R2R) approach has emerged as a framework for monitoring river connectivity between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. The study measured water quality, including pH, over 88.40 km of the Ba River in Fiji. The sampling design focused on measuring spatio-temporal variability in pH throughout the sugarcane season with three rapid sampling periods (RSP1, 2 & 3) along the Ba River, together with continuous measurement of temperature and pH using stationary data loggers at two locations upstream and downstream of the sugar mill. Spatial variability in pH and water quality was characterised before (RSP1 and RSP2) and during (RSP3) the sugarcane season. Mean pH measured before the sugarcane crushing season for RSP1 and RSP2 were 8.16 (± 0.49) and 8.20 (± 0.61) respectively. During the sugarcane crushing season (RSP3), mean pH declined by 3.06 units to 6.94 within 42 m downstream of the sugar mill (P ≤ 0.001). The 3.06 unit decline in pH for RSP3 exceeded both the mean diurnal variation in pH of 0.39 and mean seasonal variation in pH of 2.01. This decline in pH could be a potential source of acidification to downstream coastal ecosystems with implications for coral reefs, biodiversity and fishery livelihoods.

Mapping long-term coral reef ecosystems regime shifts: A small island developing state case study.

Coral reefs are among the most fragile ecosystems that provide essential services to local Small Island Developing States (SIDS) communities. As such, exploring the characteristics and interactions shaping regime shifts of coral reefs is of paramount importance in managing system pressures; enhancing resilience; aiding their regeneration and recovery process; and restoring habitat complexity. However, understanding the dynamics of coral reef ecosystems regime shift requires employing an approach capable of dealing with systems being affected by multiple climatic and socio-economic non-climatic pressures as well as an effective treatment of systemic embedded uncertainties. This study applies Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) in a participatory stepwise and systematic procedure to reflect dynamic casualties and temporal changes of coral reef ecosystem regime change over a long-time perspective. This mapping technique allows conceptualising dynamic models to represent causalities and modelling input values to simulate fluctuations within a complex temporal system. Port Resolution on Tanna Island in Vanuatu was selected as the case study region representative of Pacific-SIDS geography and human communities. As an initial outcome and an indicator of multidisciplinary of this study, twenty-seven principal influential factors and their corresponding causal relationships were identified. Subsequently, the coral reef regime shift was analysed under four main plausible scenarios representing major climatic and non-climatic trajectories. The results indicate that climate change factors play pivotal roles in the regime shift of the coral reef ecosystem globally. At the focal scale of this study, the tourism industry and coral fisheries are the most vulnerable services provided by coral reefs. As such, coupled local management interventions and global efforts in mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change is likely to yield better coral reef ecosystem services at a local community level.