Financing social and ecological resilience on nature’s frontlines

Small-scale fishers and smallholder farmers around the world live amidst a wealth of natural resources, but are often unable to benefit from their value. These communities lack access to formal financial services like bank accounts, formal debt, or insurance, while financial service providers and development organizations cannot effectively deliver resources to these communities.

When traditional finance fails, innovative finance is needed. Rare’s Innovative Finance program connects rural and remote communities on nature’s frontlines to the formal financial sector, helping them build resilience to financial shocks fueled by climate change.

Explore the elements of Innovative Finance at Rare

 

Connecting communities to the formal economy

The formal economy consists of traditional financial services like savings accounts, insurance, and affordable loans. Most small-scale fishing and farming communities are rural and remote, far from banks and other financial institutions that provide these services, leaving fishers, farmers, and other rural residents vulnerable to impacts from emergencies, pandemics, or climate change. In this Rare Quotes, Rare Vice President of Innovative Finance Kate Schweigart discusses Rare’s approach to connecting communities to the formal economy.

How Rare deploys innovative finance

De-risking investment in coastal communities & ecosystems

Rare launched the world’s first Small Scale Fisheries Impact Bond to channel private capital toward the revitalization and sustainable management of coastal communities and ecosystems.

Read the news

Photo of net fishing off the coast of their community, Pasi Kolaga.

Insuring fisher households

Rare designs and deploys innovative insurance products to help local communities withstand the financial fallout from climate change. Rare works with financial institutions and insurance providers to meet the needs of fishing communities and small and micro fish-related enterprises.

Download the Microinsurance 2-pager

Download the Parametric Insurance 2-Pager

Advancing nature-based solutions

Rare’s approach to blue carbon stems from its commitment to support local communities in sustainably managing and maintaining their natural resources. With a rights-based approach to community resources, our practitioners and field experts help small-scale fishers and smallholder farmers improve practices for fisheries management plans.

Download the Blue Carbon at Rare resource

Stay Connected

Sign me up for occasional emails to learn more about Rare’s work and how I can support its mission. I know I can unsubscribe at any time.

Name(Required)

Featured innovative finance content

Rare Conversations with Bruce McNamer
The Insurer: Building Resilience in Asia
Seafood Source: Rare unveils new impact bond for small-scale fishers

.

Our Innovative Finance program partners

The following is a sampling of Innovative Finance’s donors and partners (past and present).

 

Rare's Innovative Finance program partner logos.

.

WILL YOU GIVE TODAY?

Climate change needs behavior change.
Help us inspire change so people & nature thrive.

$25 USD $50 USD $100 USD OTHER

A Fisher pulling his boat to shore in Mozambique.