The Effects of Private Household Insurance on Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in Samoa

Abstract

Private household insurance has been relatively uncommon among households in Samoa to date. Meanwhile, numerous other adaptation interventions are also being implemented, including community-based adaptation (CBA) projects which draw on the skills of the community to address the climate change-related hazards that are expected to affect local communities. Through semi-structured interviews with community members from the urban/peri-urban area around Apia (with and without insurance) and an insurance company representative, this research explores private household natural perils insurance uptake in Samoa and the effect that the uptake of this insurance has on household engagement in other climate change adaptation (CCA) strategies such as CBA projects. Findings suggest that individuals whose homes are already insured with natural perils insurance are more likely to express more individualistic values or beliefs than those without natural perils insurance. Insured homeowners commonly framed adaptation as a technical challenge, with insurance being part of the technical and expert-led approach to prepare for, manage and recover from extreme events. In contrast, householders without insurance perceived CCA as less of a technical task and more of a social process. Those individuals with private household natural perils insurance coverage (in keeping with their more individualistic values) reported that they were less engaged in CBA projects compared to participants without insurance (who held more communalistic values). Given the importance of household participation in CBA projects, an increased uptake of insurance may have problematic outcomes for the adaptive capacity of the broader community.

Citation

Bartlett, A., Parsons, M. and Neef, A. (2020), "The Effects of Private Household Insurance on Climate Change Adaptation Strategies in Samoa", Neef, A. and Pauli, N. (Ed.) Climate-Induced Disasters in the Asia-Pacific Region: Response, Recovery, Adaptation (Community, Environment and Disaster Risk Management, Vol. 22), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 167-191. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2040-726220200000022007