Drought-stricken Mali receives first-ever African Risk Capacity (ARC) Limited climate risk insurance pay-out

APO Group

Rising insecurity, droughts and COVID-19 plunge Mali into food crisis; WFP to use US$7.1m ARC Limited Replica pay-out for food assistance

Over 204,000 vulnerable people in drought-affected regions of Mali will benefit from a US$7.1 million climate risk insurance pay-out by African Risk Capacity (ARC) Limited to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

The ARC Replica pay-out is the first of its kind in Mali, aimed at providing emergency and resilience-building support to populations vulnerable to the impacts of climate-change-induced disasters.

In 2021, Mali experienced the most severe lack of rains in five years caused by periodic dry spells and low rainfall, putting 1.9 million people across the country at risk of severe food insecurity – mostly in the regions of Kayes, Gao, Mopti, Segou, and Timbuktu.

In the case of Mali, however, the impacts of drought have been particularly exacerbated by 10 years of conflict and COVID-19.

As an ARC-Replica technical partner, the WFP has been subscribing to the climate insurance policy in Mali since 2017 to finance early emergency response. In 2021, WFP’s insurance premium was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Government of Germany…