Lagos — the coastal capital of Nigeria — is sinking.
It’s long been a city defined by water, with a lagoon to its east, the Atlantic to its south, and canals spiraling through its ever-growing neighborhoods. Year after year, people have poured into the city at a relentless pace — fueling development that has accelerated coastal erosion, destroyed local ecosystems, and heightened flood risk.
But instead of pouring money into post-disaster aid, the United Nations Development Programme is experimenting with something different: insurance.
“Risks are endangering development outcomes,” said Miguel Solana, a global technical lead at UNDP’s Insurance and Risk Finance Facility. “Can we afford to keep living as a society without managing these risks?”
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