One of Accubits’ portfolio companies – Misteo was invited by Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) to build a first-of-its-kind climate parametric insurance product for the Ministry of Agriculture, Paraguay. GIZ – German International Co-operation Fund by the German Government, is one of the world’s largest development agencies, with a business volume in excess of €3.1 billion in 2019 as well as 22,199 employees spread over more than 120 countries. The agency is headquartered in Bonn and Eschborn that provides services in the field of international development cooperation and international education work. GIZ invited Misteo to join the international consortium of companies to build and deliver a climate parametric insurance product for the apiculture sector in Paraguay.
Apiculture or beekeeping includes the maintenance of bee colonies for the collection of different products like honey, beeswax, propolis, flower pollen, bee pollen, and royal jelly. Animal pollinators like bees play a crucial role in flowering plant reproduction and in the production of most fruits and vegetables. Most plants require the assistance of pollinators to produce seeds and fruit. About 80% of all flowering plants and over three-quarters of the staple crop plants that feed humankind rely on animal pollinators.
But today, pollinators like bees are facing an existential threat due to climate change. According to recent studies, climate change is causing flowers to bloom a month earlier, as compared to the flowering cycle 45 years ago. This results in decreased pollination of flowers and starvation of bees. The starvation of bees has led to a new disorder, called colony collapse disorder (CCD), wherein adult bees leave the hive leaving the immature ones behind. The disorder has existed since 2006, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. The increase in global temperature is also affecting pollinators.
The decimation of bee populations poses a greater threat to the global agriculture sector and the existence of humanity. It could lead to mass starvation on an unprecedented and unacceptable scale. Moreover, apiculture farmers are facing a hard time sustaining beekeeping due to factors such as wildfires, robbery, and lack of insurance coverage. Working with GIZ, Misteo will be building a first-of-its-kind climate parametric insurance product for apiculture, to help apiculture farmers to sustain and grow the beekeeping business.
The product combines a handful of technologies such as satellite imagery analytics, weather data analytics, and artificial intelligence to generate intel for data-driven apiculture models and parametric insurance models. The product also incorporates blockchain-based smart contracts for insurance claims processing.
About Misteo: MistEO is a computation sustainability company addressing opportunities created by extreme weather. Present-day anthropogenic climate change throws open opportunities to help businesses, organizations, and governments to adapt and be resilient. – both operationally and profitably. Misteo is one of the few companies in the world working in this new and growing discipline focusing on computation and financial mitigation solutions addressed to meet sustainability targets by leveraging our expertise in climate economics, actuarial science, AI, and Spatio-temporal analytics.
