2009 Monographs

Index insurance and climate risk: prospects for development and disaster management

Hellmuth, M.; Osgood, D.; Hess, U.; Bhojwani, H.

This publication examines the use of index insurance to help reduce vulnerability and poverty and adapt to climate change. Experience in index insurance to-date has been limited to individual case studies, which show promise of lessening the impacts of climate shocks, and enabling investment and growth in the agriculture sector. However, these cases have also uncovered significant questions that must be answered in order to start implementing index insurance at a scale relevant to attaining meaningful development impacts. The publication looks at the technical and operational challenges that currently limit the growth and spread of index insurance. It highlights a number of case studies of the various applications of index insurance across the world