Healthy coastal ecosystems provide natural protective services and a first line of defense for coastal cities, communities, and infrastructure, as well as other valuable ecosystem services. For example, well maintained coral reefs provide critical ecosystem services, such as nurseries and feeding grounds for fisheries; coastal protection; and food supply and livelihood security for many coastal communities.

However, the health of these ecosystems is rapidly declining. Preventing and reversing this decline requires a number of interventions, including (i) building the case for effective coral reef protection, restoration, and sustainable management; (ii) implementing strong policies and governance approaches to underpin their protection, restoration, and sustainable management; and (iii) deploying sustainable financing and risk management systems to address climate change related hazards.

The multistakeholder project  “Risk Transfer Mechanisms: Partnerships for Coral Reef Finance and Insurance in Asia and the Pacific” under ADB’s technical assistance Building Coastal Resilience through Nature-Based and Integrated Resilience Solutions - Risk Financing and Insurance Solutions in Ecosystems (Output 4)  aims to identify, recommend, and demonstrate the applicability of sustainable financing and risk management models and approaches to unlock capital and investments for coral reef ecosystems that are applicable also to other nature-based solutions. It targets high-opportunity sites in four countries, namely Fiji, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Solomon Islands, to increase the climate resilience of coastal areas, businesses, communities, and livelihoods. The project is funded by Asia-Pacific Climate Finance Fund (ACliFF) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). It also benefits from a number of aligned initiatives of ADB, including the Private Sector Development Initiative (PSDI) for Fiji and Solomon Islands; the proposed Sustainable Tourism Development Project in the Philippines; and a number of other grants, TAs, and loans in the project countries. 

The following workshops/meetings have been organized in relation to this project:

• 14 November 2023: Project inception meeting brings together key government partners, the Landell Mills consultant consortium team, and ADB's project team including relevant resident missions to kick-start the project and to outline the intended approach and expected deliverables at the regional, national and local levels
• 28 February 2024: Prioritization workshop for Indonesia outlines the intended approach for assessing risk transfer/reef insurance opportunities within key sites in Indonesia and  facilitates agreement on two high opportunity sites for Indonesia to take forward into full assessment.
• 8 March 2024: Stakeholder workshop for Solomon Islands outlines the intended approach to develop a financing model for Arnavon Community Marine Park and obtains stakeholder feedback on the proposed project approach.
• 9 April 2024: Prioritization workshop for Fiji aims to understand the priorities of the Fiji government, outline reef insurance opportunities within key sites, and collaboratively agree on two high opportunity sites for Fiji to take forward into full assessment.
• 22 May 2024: Inception workshop for Philippines discusses reef insurance opportunities within a pilot location in Siargao and gathers insights for the detailed assessment of the pilot location.