Samoa, on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) welcomes
this opportunity to submit its views on the additional terms of reference for the
insurance related workshops under Decision 5/CP.7, paragraphs 34 and 35.
This submission should be seen in conjunction with earlier submissions by
AOSIS on adaptation. AOSIS reserves the right to make further submissions
and contributions to these discussions.
Support for developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the
adverse effects of climate change to adapt to these effects is vital to the
members of AOSIS. AOSIS recognizes the important progress made on
adaptation as part of the Marrakech Accords, adopted at COP 7, in particular
Decisions 5/CP.7, 6/CP.7, 7/CP.7, 9/CP.7 and 10/CP.7.
In 1991 Vanuatu, on behalf of AOSIS, submitted a proposal on an insurance
mechanism, setting out key elements for an insurance pool. 1 This insurance
pool was to draw its revenue from mandatory contributions from developed
countries and alleviate the financial burden of loss and damage suffered by
the most vulnerable small island and low-lying developing countries as a
result of sea level rise. While no insurance related mechanisms have so far
been implemented under the UNFCCC or the Kyoto Protocol, the workshop
on initial actions relating to adverse effects of climate change, held in March
2000,2 highlighted the need to explore insurance related actions further,
particularly as a means of addressing potential losses from climate related
disasters.
AOSIS supports this conclusion and therefore welcomes further discussions
on insurance and risk assessment in the context of climate change and
extreme weather events, which should include a broad spectrum of climate
related events such as storm surges, tidal waves, abnormal tides and other
related oceanographic extremes. In particular, the discussions should focus
on insurance related actions required to address the specific needs and
concerns of developing country Parties arising from the adverse effects of
climate change, as set out in Paragraphs 33 and 34 of Decision 5/CP.7.
In order to further advance this work, AOSIS believes the workshops to cover
the insurance issues arising from adaptation to the adverse effects of climate
change and those arising from adaptation to the adverse effect of response
measures should be held separately. This would follow the practice
established with the organization of the previous two workshops on these
issues in March 2000. There, one workshop discussed initial actions relating
to the adverse effects of climate change, the other dealt with the impact of
response measures. Whilst AOSIS considers it preferable that these two
issues continue to be dealt with at separate workshops, it also considers that
it would be convenient to follow the practice to arrange those workshops back
to back.