17/09/2024
Ten Caribbean countries met at a seminar in Barbados as part of the European Caribbean Cooperation Facility project.
FIIAPP and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) met at a regional seminar on agricultural and fisheries insurance. The aim of the event was to improve the insurance knowledge of OECS member countries in order to draw up a road map that will enable them to define models adapted to their context.
During the three-day event, the theoretical bases of risk, its types and dimensions, as well as its insurability and the need to define risk profiles according to vulnerability, were established.
The inauguration was presided over by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security of Barbados, Terry Bascombe; the Director General of the OECS, Didacus Jules, and the Ambassador of the European Union in Barbados, Malgorzata Wasilewska. In his speech, Bascombe pointed out that the damage caused by Hurricane Beril was estimated at 50 million Barbadian dollars (BDS) for vessels and infrastructure and 1.4 million BDS in the non-fishing sector, hence the importance of deepening insurance.
Wasilewska, for her part, delved into the vulnerability of the region as a whole, which also depends on imports, and the need for adaptation and mitigation in the face of these events. Jules highlighted examples of climate damage experienced in the region, including the impact of Beril in Grenada, where more than 100 million XCD (about 33 million Euros) was attributed to the agricultural sector. He also highlighted the importance of considering mechanisms, not only for recovery, but also for resilience to natural disasters.
Emphasis was placed on the key elements of risk management and financing, on mitigation tools and on the need to consider insurance as a complementary element. In addition, multiparametric insurance has been presented as the most efficient form of assistance in the region, also used in Africa.
The insurance model in Spain, as an international reference, together with those of Austria, Italy and Cyprus, served as a basis for discussion. The characteristics of insurance in the Caribbean, together with examples of the coconut industry, social protection and livelihoods have encouraged dialogue among participants. These contributions fed into the working groups, whose conclusions were presented to the region’s ministers of agriculture and finance.
The event was attended by international institutions such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WPF), the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), the African Risk Capacity (ARC) and the International Trade Centre (ITC). The Entidad Estatal de Seguros Agrarios (ENESA), the Consorcio de Compensación de Seguros (CCS), Agroseguro and Mapfre Re participated on behalf of Spain. Agri-Cat represented Italy and the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment represented Cyprus.
FIIAPP is participating in this event through the European Caribbean Cooperation Facility, a project that started in 2022, working with 16 Caribbean countries. It is an on-demand project, whose activities must be aligned with the 2030 Agenda and the three priority areas identified in the Multi-Year Indicative Program (MIP) for the Americas and the Caribbean, which are the Caribbean Green Pact, Resilient Economy and Trade, and Governance, Security and Human Development.
