Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 27
By Rashid Shirinov – Trend:
Some 300,000 people suffer from floods in Kazakhstan every year and the country's GDP loses up to $3 billion, Trend reports via Kazakh media.
The data was provided by World Bank analysts at the Forum on Disaster Risk Financing held in Almaty.
The impact of floods in Central Asia, which can cause the most severe damage, is estimated at 6 percent of the region's GDP each year.
"Experience has shown that in case of natural disasters it is much cheaper to take preventive measures than to eliminate the consequences. The main thing is to understand how effectively protection funds are spent, especially in connection with the changing climate in the world," said Talgat Nurmagambetov, Deputy Chairman of the Emergency Situations Committee of Kazakhstan’s Internal Affairs Ministry.
The agricultural sector, which employs a third of the population of Central Asia, is vulnerable to floods and drought. World Bank analysts offered to insure crops and livestock.
"It is necessary to make changes in the system of agricultural insurance in Kazakhstan. Now, when an insured event occurs, only 15-20 percent of the costs are covered, which is of no interest to farmers. Insurance is assumed to be not mandatory, but voluntary," said Azamat Khamiev, Deputy Director of the Investment Policy Department of Kazakhstan’s Agriculture Ministry, adding that farmers will be able to insure not only agricultural crops, but also livestock.
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