Willis Towers Watson unveils climate adaptation project in Melanesia

Willis Towers Watson has unveiled a project to support the climate adaptation and financial resilience of coastal communities in Fiji and Papua New Guinea (PNG) that are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

The project, called Financial tools for small scale fishers in Melanesia, will develop innovative risk financing mechanisms to incentivise adaptive ecosystem management. It supports communities to shift from an ad hoc, ex post community-level shock response to a more formalised ex ante community-level shock response which would get funds quickly and efficiently in the hands of those that need it to smooth shocks and minimise disruptions.

The Melanesian Pacific islands are heavily reliant on the ocean for delivering the majority of their food, livelihoods and economic activity. Fiji and PNG need financial tools that empower local communities to respond and recover from extreme climate events, enabling households to protect the assets they depend on, including natural assets such as coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass meadows.

Rowan Douglas, head of the climate and resilience hub at Willis Towers Watson, first presented the concept at the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid, where it won the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Challenge Programme for Adaptation Innovation. The project is offered under the GEF programme and in collaboration with WWF Pacific, with execution led by Willis Towers Watson, including consultation and collaboration according to the project’s stakeholder engagement plan.

Douglas said: “The project will build the enabling environment for greater financial resilience through community engagement on community priorities, risk understanding, and financial and risk management literacy. This engagement will inform the design of bespoke insurance products and programmes to support community-led resilience.”

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