Climate insurance is rarely well thought out in agriculture

The effects of climate change are felt particularly acutely

a

in developing countries. A range of international initiatives develop and promote risk insurance. One example is the G7 climate risk insurance initiative InsuResilience, which aims to insure 400 million people in developing countries against climate-related risks by 2020. The initiative includes "agricultural insurance", which is designed to insure farmers against major losses, for example as a result of extreme drought. "Agricultural insurance can be a secure and extremely helpful tool for farmers in affected areas," according to Dr Birgit Müller, socio-ecological modeller at UFZ. "However, in their current format, the insurance policies are not always well thought out. They can bring about unwanted environmental and social side effects, and so do little to help farmers adjust to long-term changes in environmental conditions."

For the current review article, Birgit Müller worked with Professor Leigh Johnson, geographer at the University of Oregon, and her UFZ colleague David Kreuer to collect empirical and model studies from around the world to provide a comprehensive overview of the potential impact of agricultural insurance. "Previous studies have concentrated primarily on economic aspects. Little attention has been devoted to the socio-ecological system as a whole," says Müller. "But one thing is becoming clear: agricultural insurance can have a range of unwanted side effects, for example changes to farmers' land use strategies."

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-climate-rarely-thought-agriculture.html#jCp