Authors: Stella Shumba, Rica Mae Ramirez, Linda Du Roy, Sinja Buri. Across the Pacific, persons with disabilities are among those experiencing the highest climate risk, facing compounded barriers to preparedness, evacuation, access to information, and recovery. At the same time, they remain significantly underserved by financial services, including climate risk insurance, which limits their ability to anticipate, absorb, and recover from shocks.

Recognizing that access to parametric insurance alone does not ensure inclusion, it is essential to take a deliberate, evidence-based approach to disability inclusion. As part of this effort, the Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme (PICAP) assessed disability-related needs across Fiji, Tonga, and the Solomon Islands to inform the design and implementation of inclusive parametric climate risk insurance. Parametric insurance provides automatic payouts when predefined triggers – such as heavy rainfall, prolonged dry spells, or high wind speeds – are reached. Triggered payouts can be released faster than with traditional insurance. This speed and predictability make it especially valuable for climate-vulnerable communities.

Through in-depth interviews, focus group discussions in all three countries (in 2025), and subsequent analysis, the UNCDF and UNU-EHS teams under PICAP assessed how to make climate risk insurance more inclusive. Fifty-one persons with physical, visual, psychosocial, or language-related disabilities, as well as one key informant from Lavame’a Ta’e’iloa Disabled People Association (LA-TA Tonga), were interviewed.

Layers of Exclusion

The findings revealed that persons with disabilities often face multiple and overlapping forms of exclusion that intensify disaster risk. These include economic exclusion, inaccessible infrastructure, limited access to information, and exclusion from disaster planning and decision-making processes.

Economic exclusion emerged strongly throughout the assessment. Many participants described living day to day on limited or unstable incomes, making even modest insurance premiums difficult to afford. Yet despite low awareness of insurance products, willingness to enrol increased significantly once parametric insurance was explained in accessible terms.

Across Fiji, Tonga, and Solomon Islands, participants also described challenges evacuating independently, accessing timely information, reaching safe shelters, and recovering after disasters. Some spoke of relying entirely on family members or neighbours to evacuate. Others explained that communication systems failed to reach them during emergencies, leaving them dependent on “guesswork” or following crowds to safety.

The findings also highlighted how disability groups experience information systems differently. In some communities, disaster warnings are primarily delivered through radio broadcasts that deaf participants cannot access independently, while visually impaired participants reported relying heavily on the radio when the internet and electricity fail during disasters.

Together, these findings suggest that low insurance uptake may reflect barriers related to information, accessibility, affordability, and trust more than a lack of demand.

Participants also raised concerns about whether parametric insurance triggers accurately reflect lived realities on the ground, particularly when households experience severe impacts but fall outside technical payout thresholds.

Beyond Insurance Coverage

A key message is that insurance alone cannot address the broader structural conditions that shape vulnerability.

One notable finding from the assessment is the hierarchy of needs expressed by participants following disasters. Food, water, medicines, assistive devices, and safe shelter were consistently prioritised over longer-term recovery needs, such as housing repairs or livelihood restoration.

Interviewees also emphasised the need for psychosocial support, accessible evacuation centres, rehabilitation services, and preparedness training tailored to different disability groups. The discussions therefore reinforced the need for disability-inclusive disaster risk financing to go beyond financial compensation alone. It requires systems that are accessible, trusted, fair, and responsive to the realities people face before, during, and after disasters.

From Charity to Rights-Based Inclusion

These first assessment insights were shared during a webinar on March 11^th, 2026, that brought together stakeholders engaged in disability inclusion from across the Pacific and beyond. Throughout the webinar, speakers emphasised that meaningful inclusion requires action across policy, product design, communication systems, and implementation processes.

Drawing on Fiji’s experience, Ms Rozia Bi from the Fiji Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection stressed that while parametric insurance can support faster response and recovery, inclusion must be embedded throughout the entire process, from product design to payout delivery mechanisms.

Ms Tepola Rabuli from the Pacific Disability Forum noted that the PICAP programme demonstrated the potential for parametric insurance to become a lifeline for communities, while also revealing critical implementation gaps that must be addressed before scaling. These include inaccessible technical information, a lack of identification documents required for registration, and the affordability challenges many persons with disabilities continue to face.

Mr Rhema Misa from the disabled persons association LA-TA Tonga highlighted the importance of moving beyond charity-based approaches toward rights-based inclusion. He emphasised the need for insurance products and communication systems to be accessible through formats such as Braille and Sign Language, while also strengthening community awareness and preparedness.

Building Truly Inclusive Resilience

The PICAP assessment demonstrates that disability-inclusive climate risk insurance is not simply about extending coverage. It is about addressing the wider systems that determine whether persons with disabilities are able to prepare for, survive, and recover from disasters safely and with dignity.

Achieving this will require stronger partnerships between governments, insurers, organisations of persons with disabilities, development partners, and communities themselves. It will also require moving beyond one-size-fits-all approaches toward solutions grounded in lived realities.

Explore more:

·         Watch the full webinar recording here

·         Access the presentation slides here

PICAP is jointly implemented by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS)