The Munich Re, a worldwide leading reinsurance company, set up the Munich Re Foundation in April 2005 to commemorate its 125th anniversary. The focal point of the foundation's work is people at risk. The foundation tries to minimise the risks to which these people are exposed. It clarifies issues and provides support, especially in developing countries. The Munich Re Foundation sees itself in the special position of being able to draw on its benefactor’s unique technical knowledge on the impact and cost of climate change and wants to turn this knowledge lead consistently into effective social action.
The topics that the foundation’s work deals with are as complex and varied as the background and causes of risks. Questions concerning population development and migration, for example, are often inseparably linked to the element of water: on the one hand, a valuable resource and on the other, possibly a risk factor. This is equally true of the link between current issues in the field of environmental and climate change, migration or disaster prevention and poverty relief. The foundation seeks to provide answers to overarching questions from a variety of perspectives in order to find sustainable solutions, also, we try to support or initiate research where it is needed.
The Migration Issue – the Need for Research
Migration is often perceived to be a problem which causes concern and fear. Political solutions are complex and not necessarily sustainable. More policy-oriented research is needed. In response to this challenge, we supported the international expert workshop on migration in April 2008, in Munich, and organized together with UNU-EHS, the 2008 Summer Academy on “Environmental change, migration & social vulnerability”. As one of the Co-initiators of the Alliance on Migration, we aim to support policy relevant research, helping to create a framework designed to improve conditions in potential immigrant and emigrant countries, an agenda fully in keeping with the foundation’s motto, "From Knowledge to Action".