FINANCIAL PROTECTION AGAINST NATURAL DISASTERS

Disaster Risk Finance helps countries improve their financial resilience against natural disasters by implementing sustainable and cost-effective financial protection policies and operations. It helps minimize the cost and optimize the timing of meeting post-disaster funding needs without compromising development goals, fiscal stability, or wellbeing. It promotes comprehensive financial protection strategies to ensure that governments, homeowners, small and medium-sized enterprises, agricultural producers, and the most vulnerable populations can meet post-disaster funding needs as they arrive. It is an integral part of disaster and climate risk management. It supports governments, businesses, and households to manage the financial impacts of disaster and climate risks without compromising sustainable development, fiscal stability, or wellbeing.

Financial protection complements investments in risk reduction, prevention, and building resilience. It addresses residual risk, which is either not feasible or not cost effective to reduce or prevent. Only by looking at the financial impact of disasters comprehensively can governments build the financial resilience of society as a whole.

This website proposes an operational framework to guide countries in developing and implementing such comprehensive financial protection policies. It also takes stock of the progress in the field to date.