Building the wealth and resilience of communities on nature’s frontlines
Small-scale fishers and smallholder farmers around the world live adjacent to a wealth of natural resources. But living in rural and remote communities is a barrier to benefitting from the value of the resources. These communities lack access to formal financial services like bank accounts, formal debt, or insurance, while financial service providers and global development organizations often lack mechanisms to effectively deliver resources to these communities.
Where traditional financial systems and strategies fail, innovative finance bridges the gap. Rare’s Innovative Finance program connects rural and remote communities on nature’s frontlines to the formal financial sector, helping them build resilience to both financial shocks and the consequences of climate change. By breaking down barriers separating communities and the formal economy, Rare helps build financial resilience and reduces pressure on nature.
Explore the elements of Innovative Finance at Rare
Connecting communities to the formal economy
The formal economy consists of legally recognized entities with access to traditional financial services like savings accounts, insurance, and affordable financial loans. Most small-scale fishing and farming communities are rural and remote, far from banks and other financial institutions and the benefits of formal financial services. This leaves fishers, farmers, and other rural residents financially vulnerable to the impacts of emergencies, pandemics, or the impacts of climate change. In this Rare Quotes, Rare VP of Innovative Finance Kate Schweigart discusses Rare’s approach to connecting communities to the formal economy.
De-risking investment in coastal communities & ecosystems
Rare launched the world’s first Small Scale Fisheries Impact Bond to channel private and philanthropic capital toward the revitalization and sustainable management of coastal communities and ecosystems. The Bond’s pilot will establish five new areas of ocean to be sustainably co-managed by local communities Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Building sustainable economies
Rare designs and deploys different insurance products to help cover local communities from the financial fallout of climate change. Whether it’s traditional indemnity insurance or innovative parametric insurance, Rare works with financial institutions, insurance providers, and communities to meet the needs of fisher households.
Read the story: Insuring the Insurers
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.
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Our Innovative Finance program partners
The following is a sampling of Innovative Finance’s donors and partners (past and present).
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