NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Typhoon Haiyan’s 195mph sustained winds and five-meter-high waves threatened much of the Pacific nation, yet after threatening life and limb, they may have done the most damage to the estimated 87% of Filipinos who lack insurance.

Dramatic storms like Haiyan may represent the new normal, which is partly why the global insurance industry and civil society organisations are turning to programmes such as MicroEnsure and the Coop Life Insurance and Mutual Benefit Services. These kind of insurance schemes linked to climate indices, are not to specific headline-grabbing catastrophes, but the ongoing damage global climate change is doing to rural economies.