Protection-gap mapping is the process of identifying where people, assets, businesses, infrastructure systems, communities, public authorities, sectors, or national portfolios may face losses that are not adequately protected by insurance, public finance, resilience investment, risk transfer, reserves, continuity planning, or other risk-management mechanisms.
Protection-gap mapping may examine hazards such as flood, wildfire, drought, earthquake, extreme heat, cyber-physical disruption, infrastructure failure, health-system shock, supply-chain disruption, or other systemic risks.
It may help identify who is exposed, what is uninsured or underinsured, what data is missing, what risks are excluded, what public balance-sheet exposure exists, what resilience measures may reduce loss, and what public-private risk-sharing questions arise.
Protection-gap mapping does not mean insurance approval. It does not mean coverage is available. It does not mean risk transfer is feasible. It does not mean public finance is approved.
A protection gap is often evidence that the problem is difficult, not that the solution is already available.
Mapping the gap helps structure the question. It does not close the gap.
