From Knowledge to Action – The Munich Re Foundation
Munich Re has been handling global risks for 125 years and addressing major global challenges: population growth, globalisation, diminishing resources, environmental pollution, climate change. Companies in possession of this level of knowledge also have a certain responsibility. Knowledge obligates. We exercise this responsibility through the Munich Re Foundation. Endowed with a capital of €50m, the foundation has been using its knowledge in the service of people since 2005.
The foundation has a standing commitment to sustainability issues. They are at the core of many of its projects; in Germany the focus is on educating young people and on sustainability. The Chairman of the Munich Re Foundation is also a member of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and the Sustainability Board of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Under the motto "From Knowledge to Action", it has set itself the goal of helping people in risk situations and improving their lot – especially in countries where the people are too poor to have financial services like insurance. Activities are concentrated in four fields: research, networking, sensitisation and action. In 2006, the Munich Re Foundation scored successes in all fields of activity.
Research
The forces of nature and diminishing resources are increasing the social vulnerability of human beings, particularly in developing countries. We can avert the worst consequences of natural catastrophes and save lives only if we are able to build up the resilience of social systems to catastrophes and improve human security. Some 25 young scientists from around the world and high-ranking experts who attended a week-long Summer Academy at Hohenkammer near Munich discussed social vulnerability as one of the global challenges of our times. These include poverty, access to water, urbanisation, natural catastrophes and migration. The Academy, founded by the United Nations University (UNU) and the Munich Re Foundation in 2006, will continue to promote research in this field.
Networking
Microinsurance is playing an increasingly important role in the international fight against poverty. The second Microinsurance Conference, held in Cape Town in November 2006, considered how people with low incomes could gain access to insurance, particularly in Africa.
The conference was organised by the Munich Re Foundation and Working Group on Microinsurance of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) together with FinMark Trust, a South African organisation. The third conference will take place in the autumn of 2007 in the metropolis of Mumbai in India, a country in which microinsurance is of ever-increasing importance.
In a joint effort with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the foundation also published the first comprehensive manual on microinsurance: "Protecting the Poor – A Microinsurance Compendium".
Sensitisation
In 2006 the Munich Re Foundation supported two nationwide education projects in German schools designed to heighten young people’s awareness of climate change and sustainability: "Youth with inexhaustible energy – Protect the climate!", a competition sponsored by the German environment ministry and "Climate expedition", an educational project of Germanwatch which brings daily updated satellite views of earth to the classroom.
"The risks of living in Munich" dialogue forums, which the foundation co-organised with the GSF - National Research Centre for Environment and Health, by contrast, addressed adults. On five evenings, experts discussed topics with the public like risks to children, the hazard potential of particulate matter and the pandemic risk.
Action
In recent decades, there has been a significant increase in flood disasters in many parts of the world, Mozambique being no exception. Efficient warning systems are a vital part of any viable prevention strategy. Since 2005, the Munich Re Foundation’s Mozambique flood-warning system project has been involved in setting up a simple but effective early-warning system along the River Búzi, where floods regularly claim many hundreds of victims and rob people of their livelihoods.