Highlights

    • The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the opening ceremony of International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure through video conference. Prime Minister of Fiji, Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom were present on the occasion.

    • PM Modi said that COVID-19 pandemic termed a once-in-a-hundred-year disaster has taught us that in an interdependent and interconnected world, country-rich or poor, in the east or west, north or south- is immune to the effect of global disasters.

    • Prime Minister also elaborated on key priority areas:

    1. CDRI must embody the central promise of the Sustainable Development Goals, that is, "leave no one behind".

    2. We must take stock of the performance of some of the key infrastructure sectors - particularly health infrastructure and the digital infrastructure, that played a central role during the pandemic. 

    3. In our quest for resilience, no technological system should be considered too basic or too advanced. The CDRI must maximize the demonstration effect of the application of technology.

    4. Finally, the notion of "resilient infrastructure" must become a mass movement galvanizing the energies of not just the experts, and formal institutions.

About ICDRI

    • The International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI) is an annual international conference and platform to continue building an engaged global community for disaster and climate resilient infrastructure.

    • Organized from 17 to 19 March 2021 by the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), the conference will bring together stakeholders from partner countries representing national disaster risk management agencies, key infrastructure sectors, multilateral development banks, UN agencies, academia and research institutions, the private sector and policy think tanks.

    • ICDRI 2021 will deliberate on international commitments that are significant for building disaster and climate resilient infrastructure.

About CDRI

    • The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) is a partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and knowledge institutions that aims to promote the resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks in support of sustainable development. 

    • It was launched by the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi at the 2019 UN Climate Summit.

    • It includes Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Bhutan, Chile, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Maldives, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nepal, Netherlands, Peru, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

    • CDRI promotes rapid development of resilient infrastructure to respond to the Sustainable Development Goals’ imperatives of expanding universal access to basic services, enabling prosperity and decent work.

    • Six organizations—The World Bank Group, The Asian Development Bank, The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), The Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies (ARISE) and Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment (CCRI) are supporting partners.

    • The following are CRDI’s strategic priorities: 

    1. Technical Support and Capacity-building: This includes disaster response and recovery support; innovation, institutional and community capacity-building assistance; and standards and certification.  

    2. Research and Knowledge Management: This includes collaborative research; global flagship reports; and a global database of infrastructure and sector resilience. 

    3. Advocacy and Partnerships: This includes global events and initiatives; marketplace of knowledge financing and implementation agencies; and dissemination of knowledge products. 

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)