Joemar Flores, a spindly 28-year-old, gestured across his family’s farmland, nestled between a steep hill and a river, and expressed gratitude for the rice paddies in the distance.
They’re still there, producing food and an income for him, thanks in part to a novel form of insurance that is increasingly being used to help vulnerable populations build resilience to climate change.
Back in 2022, the young father of a toddler and a newborn faced ruin when heavy rains and violent winds decimated his rice crop.
“We were very discouraged,” he recalled, as he pointed to a photo of the destroyed paddies.
Flores had borrowed 30,000 Philippine pesos (a little more than $500 at today’s exchange rates) to purchase the rice seedlings and fertilizer he needed for the crops that provide his family’s livelihood. Without the harvest he wouldn’t be able to pay back the loan or hav