Insurance for aquaculture and fishery adaptation to climate change: experiences from China and Viet Nam.
Abstract
The broad concept of insurance as a risk management tool and a climate change adaptation strategy in aquaculture and fishery has been widely accepted by governments and their fisheries sectors. This prompted the trial of schemes designed to insure a large pool of farmers and fishers on the one hand and to be a viable business for insurers on the other. Examples from the People's Republic of China and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam illustrate the attempts to achieve these two linked outcomes. Generally, small-scale and medium-scale farmers' and fishers' access to insurance cover is still limited and there is a need for well-designed insurance products that suit the circumstances and needs of such farmers and fishers. Innovative insurance programmes can promote good farm management practices. Public-private partnership models such as mutual insurance can be feasible in providing insurance services to groups of small farmers, but government subsidies are needed initially.