A new form of insurance that covers risks such as droughts or floods could help small farmers in developing countries cope with worsening impacts of global warming, a U.N. backed report said on Wednesday.
Under "index insurance", payouts are linked to a yardstick such as a shortfall of rains in the maize growing season in Malawi or the height of the Mekong River near rice paddies in Vietnam that risk flooding.
In theory, such a system is simpler and so cheaper than normal farm insurance, which pays compensation for crop failures only after insurance companies document losses at each farm.
"Index insurance offers new opportunities for managing climate risk in developing countries," according to the report by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at Columbia University in New York.
Greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels, are stoking global warming that will disrupt food and water supplies with heatwaves, floods, desertification and rising sea levels, the U.N. Climate Panel says.
Up to 250 million people in Africa alone could face greater stress on water supplies by 2050.
"If farms are small it's often not possible to get insurance," said Daniel Osgood of Columbia University who was among editors of the report also backed by U.N. agencies, reinsurer Swiss Re and aid group Oxfam.
"The challenge is to get the formula connected to the loss. if a lack of March rainfall causes the problem then it doesn't help to insure against April rains," he said.
Other problems were ensuring that rain gauges were accurate and tamperproof for instance, and close enough to farms to be relevant.
"Index insurance is a very new tool; it's exploding in popularity," said Mirey Atallah of the U.N. Development Programme and an editor of the report. "There are a lot of challenges but also a lot of opportunities."
MONGOLIA
Example of index insurance include drought coverage by Ethiopia, a system for Mongolian herders linked to livestock deaths or disaster insurance for Caribbean islands linked to hurricane wind speeds.
In 2008, for instance, the public Nicaraguan insurer sold contracts linked to rainfall for groundnuts and rice, protecting a total area of 1,774 hectares (4,384 acres). Premiums averaged 5.5 percent of the insured total of $1.7 million.
The report said that the system could help raise farmers escape poverty -- farmers are more likely to invest in more expensive seeds if they do not have to assume all the risk. Banks are also more likely to extend credit to the insured.
Small farmers in vulnerable areas were risk averse.
"Even though a drought (or a flood, or a hurricane) may happen only one year in five or six, the threat of the disaster is enough to block economic vitality, growth and wealth generation in all years -- good or bad," the report said.
Osgood said that farmers who own an ox used for ploughing sometimes had to eat the animal to survive when crops failed.
"If that happens then the next year the farmer can't farm and it leads to poverty," he said. Use of insurance could help.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
WMS students raise money for school in Malawi
The village of Mchenga, Malawi gets a new school building thanks to money raised by Wissahickon Middle School. Nathan Hurdle helps with the construction of the new classroom block.
The eighth-graders who recently finished their time at Wissahickon Middle School left behind a unique legacy: a three-year effort to fund a school in Africa that is currently under construction.
When the group entered the middle school as sixth-graders three years ago, the idea for funding a school quickly became the student council's main focus.
According to student council faculty sponsor Jen Smith, parent Jon Hurdle first approached the school administration with the idea, and the student council then made it its primary philanthropic cause. Working with Save the Children, the school set the goal of raising $30,000, which would cover the costs of expanding and renovating an existing school building in Zomba, Malawi.
Smith said the school quickly embraced the fundraiser.
"The school community was very supportive in raising these funds," she said. "We've had a big push here at our school for diversity and to have students realize they're global students. Most of the students in our district do know how fortunate they are, and the chance to do something for others really called to them."
Over the next two and a half years, a portion of nearly all fundraisers at the school benefited the project, including annual events such as the student-teacher basketball game. Smith said some students donated their own money.
With the whole school supporting the effort, it reached the goal of $30,000 at the end of 2008, and Save the Children soon began construction.
"There's a new classroom block being built, which basically doubles the size of the school," Hurdle said.
The school previously had around 550 students, but the building was unable to facilitate all the students, with many having class outside. When construction is complete, it will be able to accommodate all the students. Additionally, news of the improvements at the building has attracted nearly 200 more students to the area.
At the beginning of May, Hurdle visited the site along with his sons, Jeremy, a freshman at McGill University, and Nathan, an eighth-grader and Student Council President at Wissahickon Middle School.
"Our money has made a very significant improvement to the quality of that school," Hurdle said. He said the first classroom block was about one-third complete, and they estimate about two more months until construction finishes.
While the fundraiser was a huge undertaking, it is not the first time the Hurdle family has been involved with such a project.
Five years ago when Nathan attended Shady Grove Elementary School, Hurdle first came up with the idea of fundraising after reading about overcrowding in African schools. He approached the Home and School Association, which liked the idea and encouraged him to find a nongovernmental organization to work with. Hurdle got in contact with Save the Children, which told him an entire school in rural Ethiopia could be built for $25,000.
Over the next two years, the Shady Grove community raised those funds, and Hurdle and his sons also visited that completed school during their recent trip.
Hurdle said he hopes the success won't end with this most recent project. While the idea is still in the proposal stage, Hurdle said he would like to start another fundraising effort with Wissahickon High School, now that Nathan will be a student there in the fall.
Hurdle said while the projects have a clear benefit for the children in Africa, they also have a great impact on the students in the Wissahickon School District.
"My vision has always been that it's a two-way street," he said. "It nurtures their charitable instincts. It shows them that they can actually make a difference."
The eighth-graders who recently finished their time at Wissahickon Middle School left behind a unique legacy: a three-year effort to fund a school in Africa that is currently under construction.
When the group entered the middle school as sixth-graders three years ago, the idea for funding a school quickly became the student council's main focus.
According to student council faculty sponsor Jen Smith, parent Jon Hurdle first approached the school administration with the idea, and the student council then made it its primary philanthropic cause. Working with Save the Children, the school set the goal of raising $30,000, which would cover the costs of expanding and renovating an existing school building in Zomba, Malawi.
Smith said the school quickly embraced the fundraiser.
"The school community was very supportive in raising these funds," she said. "We've had a big push here at our school for diversity and to have students realize they're global students. Most of the students in our district do know how fortunate they are, and the chance to do something for others really called to them."
Over the next two and a half years, a portion of nearly all fundraisers at the school benefited the project, including annual events such as the student-teacher basketball game. Smith said some students donated their own money.
With the whole school supporting the effort, it reached the goal of $30,000 at the end of 2008, and Save the Children soon began construction.
"There's a new classroom block being built, which basically doubles the size of the school," Hurdle said.
The school previously had around 550 students, but the building was unable to facilitate all the students, with many having class outside. When construction is complete, it will be able to accommodate all the students. Additionally, news of the improvements at the building has attracted nearly 200 more students to the area.
At the beginning of May, Hurdle visited the site along with his sons, Jeremy, a freshman at McGill University, and Nathan, an eighth-grader and Student Council President at Wissahickon Middle School.
"Our money has made a very significant improvement to the quality of that school," Hurdle said. He said the first classroom block was about one-third complete, and they estimate about two more months until construction finishes.
While the fundraiser was a huge undertaking, it is not the first time the Hurdle family has been involved with such a project.
Five years ago when Nathan attended Shady Grove Elementary School, Hurdle first came up with the idea of fundraising after reading about overcrowding in African schools. He approached the Home and School Association, which liked the idea and encouraged him to find a nongovernmental organization to work with. Hurdle got in contact with Save the Children, which told him an entire school in rural Ethiopia could be built for $25,000.
Over the next two years, the Shady Grove community raised those funds, and Hurdle and his sons also visited that completed school during their recent trip.
Hurdle said he hopes the success won't end with this most recent project. While the idea is still in the proposal stage, Hurdle said he would like to start another fundraising effort with Wissahickon High School, now that Nathan will be a student there in the fall.
Hurdle said while the projects have a clear benefit for the children in Africa, they also have a great impact on the students in the Wissahickon School District.
"My vision has always been that it's a two-way street," he said. "It nurtures their charitable instincts. It shows them that they can actually make a difference."
Madonna starts life with new
Madonna's new adopted daughter Mercy has arrived in Britain to begin family life with the world-famous singer.
The child, whose controversial adoption was approved in Malawi's highest court on June 12, has been spotted outside Madonna's £15 million town house in the Marylebone area of London, looking wide-eyed while being held by a nanny.
The four-year-old child flew into London on Friday and Madonna was said to be reduced to tears after the girl greeted her as 'Moni, moni, Mummy' in her native Chichewa tongue.
Mercy was then reportedly introduced to her siblings before Madonna sent son Rocco, eight, and adopted son David Banda, three, for a weekend with their father Guy Ritchie. Lourdes, 12, is understood to have remained in London.
Sources say Madonna will "cocoon" Mercy in Britain over the coming days while the pair bond.
The Sun newspaper quoted a friend of the 50-year-old singer's family as saying: "The next few days are all about cocooning Mercy from the world and getting her used to being around her new family."
Madonna's spokeswoman simply said: "Madonna is in London rehearsing for her forthcoming tour."
The singer said previously she was "ecstatic" after her bid to adopt a second child from Malawi was approved.
The pop star appealed after a lower court rejected her application to adopt Chifundo "Mercy" James in April.
The country's highest court announced its decision to allow the adoption, saying that the lower court had failed to take modern realities into account.
The child, whose controversial adoption was approved in Malawi's highest court on June 12, has been spotted outside Madonna's £15 million town house in the Marylebone area of London, looking wide-eyed while being held by a nanny.
The four-year-old child flew into London on Friday and Madonna was said to be reduced to tears after the girl greeted her as 'Moni, moni, Mummy' in her native Chichewa tongue.
Mercy was then reportedly introduced to her siblings before Madonna sent son Rocco, eight, and adopted son David Banda, three, for a weekend with their father Guy Ritchie. Lourdes, 12, is understood to have remained in London.
Sources say Madonna will "cocoon" Mercy in Britain over the coming days while the pair bond.
The Sun newspaper quoted a friend of the 50-year-old singer's family as saying: "The next few days are all about cocooning Mercy from the world and getting her used to being around her new family."
Madonna's spokeswoman simply said: "Madonna is in London rehearsing for her forthcoming tour."
The singer said previously she was "ecstatic" after her bid to adopt a second child from Malawi was approved.
The pop star appealed after a lower court rejected her application to adopt Chifundo "Mercy" James in April.
The country's highest court announced its decision to allow the adoption, saying that the lower court had failed to take modern realities into account.
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