A systematic review of the integration of climate information services and crop insurance for climate risk management in South Asia

Climate change and weather variability are major risks to farmers in South Asia. Despite the potential of Climate Information Services (CIS) and crop insurance to address these risks, there are few studies on the nexus between the two. This systematic review aims to collate and synthesize existing evidence on the inter-linkages between CIS and crop insurance. Using the PRISMA 2020 framework, we searched the three databases (Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar) for relevant articles published between 2009 and 2025, focusing on keywords including “crop insurance”, “Climate Information Services (CIS)”, and “South Asia”. We identify six broad themes connecting CIS with crop insurance adoption and outcomes: (i) risk awareness, (ii) socioeconomic factors, (iii) policy and institutional factors, (iv) trust and behavioral factors, (v) information and technology quality, and (vi) outcome impacts. We argue that a CIS-integrated insurance scheme is likely to improve risk awareness, actuarial rating, income stability, and adaptive capacity. However, the benefits of such schemes may not be uniform across all sections of society, and are likely to be skewed in favour of large, male, and higher-caste farmers. There is a need to develop gender-sensitive, participatory, and location-specific insurance products that improve local information networks, trust in institutions, and delivery mechanisms. These efforts will go a long way toward realizing the potential of climate risk management for resilient agriculture and supporting the fulfilment of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 1, 2, 5, and 13.