ABSTRACT
The chapter compares the three regional catastrophe risk insurance pool existing to date, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), the African Risk Capacity (ARC) and the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Insurance Pilot (PCRAFI Pilot). It elucidates commonalities and differences between them and their histories and develops a more general claim to explain their political attractiveness. Its key point is that development states have increasingly come to use these instruments for three reasons: First, they empower the executive branches. They provide governments with quick and diversified access to funding in case of a disaster. This allows them to skip erstwhile typical budget reallocation processes and provides them with the opportunity to move on to action. Second, they can be employed in flexible ways. The instruments are highly customizable and adaptable and thus compatible with various political agenda. As such, they are superior than other financial instruments. Third, they have been sponsored by development actors. Development actors provided the necessary funding and intervened at strategic leverage points to make sure countries would adopt these instruments.
