The Philippines has launched the country’s first parametric insurance solution for small-scale fishers, a partnership between the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), the Philippine Crop Insurance Corp. (PCIC), global conservation organization Rare and Willis, a WTW business.
The solution is designed to protect the livelihoods of 14,200 small-scale fishers across 24 coastal municipalities in the Philippines by mitigating income losses resulting from adverse weather conditions that prevent safe nearshore fishing, WTW said in a statement.
The insurance offers coverage of up to $100 per policy cycle to offset income loss from dangerous weather, expanding livelihood protections for a national priority of the Government of the Philippines.
BFAR will serve as the policyholder for the pilot program, offering coverage as a benefit for fisher registration and commitment to sustainable fishing practices. The agency allocated budget funds to cover the premium costs for the pilot, demonstrating government support for innovative climate risk approaches.
BFAR technical working group lead on parametric insurance Roy Ortega said, “This is not just insurance, it is an investment in our fishers. We’re protecting those who protect our seas.”
The new insurance solution uses a weather index based on wind speed sea state and rainfall to determine payout eligibility, ensuring timely and direct compensation when fishing days are lost.
Willis head of APAC climate risk center Christopher Au said that “with over 1.9 million registered small-scale fishers relying on the nearshore for their livelihoods, the impacts of climate change, such as high winds rough seas and heavy rainfall, pose increasing risks to their safety and income.”
The parametric risk transfer capacity is provided by The Natural Disaster Fund, a public-private partnership supported by Hannover Re and managed by the team from Global Parametrics Limited (a subsidiary of CelsiusPro Group). The index is calculated over 5-day periods and compared against historical data to determine the severity of the weather.
Rare chief executive Brett Jenks said the pilot takes a proven product and applies it to a new context, “insuring people rather than assets. The result will be less financial pressure on households less fishing pressure on ecosystems and more resilient coastal communities.”
The project was developed with support from the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA), with funding from the Government of Canada and the UK Government’s Blue Planet Fund.
ORRAA senior director of innovation and pipeline development Chip Cunliffe said that the partnership “represents a vital step in building market-ready solutions that deliver innovative financial solutions like parametric insurance to help protect income and build the resilience of climate vulnerable coastal communities in the Philippines.”
PCIC department manager Israel De La Cruz said the pilot allows the corporation to explore “revenue-based parametric insurance for fishers,” which they view as a data-triggered option that can respond faster than existing coverage when fishers are unable to go to sea.
 to protect 14,200 small-scale fishers from income loss due to adverse weather and climate change.){kind=link}