A new wave of locally driven projects building resilience through innovative financial products in developing country coastal communities vulnerable to climate change were announced.
The nine finalists of the latest Ocean Resilience Innovation Challenge (ORIC)—which is backed by the Swiss Re Foundation, the UK’s Blue Planet Fund and US Department of State, have been selected from 50 submissions from around the world. These include solutions ranging from digital tools that build financial security for small-scale fishers to insurance solutions for seaweed farmers. Finalist innovators are from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, the Philippines, and Tanzania.
In its third wave, the 2023 Ocean Resilience Innovation Challenge (ORIC23), which is led by the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance (ORRAA), helps incubate locally led resilience innovators to accelerate their growth. These early-stage projects are helping seed the development of a larger pipeline of novel and scalable finance and insurance products that drive investment into coastal and ocean ecosystems and achieve ORRAA’s mission - to deploy at least $500 million of investment and build the resilience of 250 million climate vulnerable coastal people by 2030.
ORIC23 provides mentoring, leadership training and funding to help promising, locally led innovative projects scale-up. The program provides tailored support from experienced entrepreneurs, project implementors and ocean specialists, including leadership training, support in developing a strong value proposition, and presentations for investors and potential partners. The ultimate aim is to improve the projects’ potential to scale, to strengthen the start-up ecosystem, and to secure additional investment.
This follows calls for solutions that invest in nature to be a critical part of climate resilience and adaptation, including recognition at COP27 of the importance of ocean-based action for achieving climate goals, and the recent IPCC AR6 Synthesis Report.
The most promising five projects from the ORIC23 cohort can receive up to USD$50,000 in the next phase of the program.
Stefan Huber Fux, Director, Swiss Re Foundation, says: “Over the last years, we’ve come to realize that investable ventures in the sector of nature-based solutions are lacking. The privilege of philanthropic actors is to absorb the high risk associated with early-stage projects with an intention to help make such initiatives investable. As a network of insurers, banks, government, multilateral entities, academia, and civil society, ORRAA is ideally placed to identify, nurture and scale nature-based solutions through an ecosystem approach.”
The UK’s Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey, said: “It is incredibly important that we continue to manage our oceans sustainably and strengthen the resilience of the marine environment, while driving forward our mission to protect at least 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030.
“Our £500 million Blue Planet Fund is helping countries around the globe tackle issues that have a huge impact on the world’s oceans, and I’m pleased to be supporting this new wave of innovative, locally driven projects that will deliver for vulnerable coastal communities and our marine environment.”
United States Deputy Special Envoy for Climate, Sue Biniaz said: “By supporting the Ocean Resilience Innovation Challenge, the United States is backing innovators on the ground who are a key part of the action we need.”
Jesper Hörnberg, the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance’s ORIC Lead, said: “ORRAA is incredibly grateful for the support from the Swiss Re Foundation, the UK’s Blue Planet Fund and US Department of State—without which our 2023 incubator and innovator program would not be possible. ORIC23 is designed to ensure a healthy investable pipeline of projects, which is a key element of our strategy. We will help these community projects grow and scale by connecting them with potential investors to achieve better outcomes for the Ocean and the communities which depend on it.”
