Global Agricultural Insurance Congress in Vienna: New Responses to Climate Change

VIENNA and ZÜRICH, October 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

- Cross reference: Picture is available via epa european pressphoto agency ( http://www.epa.eu ) and can be downloaded free of charge at: http://www.ots.at/pressemappe/4589/die-österreichische-hagelversicherung-VVaG

Within the framework of this year's Congress of the International Association of Agricultural Production Insurers - AIAG (Association Internationale des Assureurs de la Production Agricole) in Vienna at the beginning of October more than 360 agricultural insurance experts from 34 countries and all continents discussed under the topic of "Agricultural insurance and information management today and tomorrow" different agricultural insurance systems and new coverage systems.  "Due to the increase in extreme weather conditions as a result of climate change and because of the volatility of market prices agriculture is confronted with great challenges. It is a fact that agriculture with its open air workshop is bound to its site. As opposed to industry, which can, in case of a deterioration of framework conditions, react by transferring the plant to another place, farmers must live on their sites with the rising weather risks. But only a stable agricultural sector will be able to feed on the long run 7.5 billion and in future 9 billion people. In the interest of the global population agriculture needs thus an even denser safety net.  The agricultural insurers of the individual countries are learning in this respect from the best of the world. The AIAG has been entrusted with this task by the agricultural insurers", says Kurt Weinberger, re-elected president of the global association and chairman of the board of the Austrian Hail Insurance. Within the framework of the working session speakers coming, among others, from America, Canada, South Africa, India Australia and Chile, presented the implementation of different insurance solutions - and referred - in connection with climate change - to the need of even more comprehensive insurance instruments.  

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World Climate Report predicts global rise in temperature

According to the new World Climate Report many parts of the world will be confronted with considerably more extreme weather conditions by the end of the century. In Europe the air temperature will be rising until the end of the century, but first and foremost the number of extremely hot days. In 2012, for example, large regions of the USA, Mexico, and Russia were marked by massive periods of drought. A fact, which was also confirmed by Reinhard Mechler from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and member of the World Climate Council. "The results of the World Climate Report are alarming on a global and on a national scale, so that a comprehensive hail insurance is getting ever more important", president Weinberger concluded.

About AIAG (International Association of Agricultural Production Insurers - Association Internationale des Assureurs de la Production Agricole):

The AIAG, which was founded in 1951 in Paris and has its headquarters in Zürich, comprises more than 100 international members, the global harvest insurance market makes up more than US $ 23 billion. It is the vision of AIAG to develop a global network of agricultural insurers to be able to learn from the best of the world by means of a permanent exchange of information in the fields of plants and animal insurance. Kurt Weinberger has been President of the AIAG since 2011.

All contributions by the speakers of the world congress are available at http://www.hagel.at.

Further inquiry note:
Dr. Mario Winkler
Phone.: +43-1-4031681-42
E-Mail: m.winkler@hagel.at

SOURCE Austrian Hail Insurance