Context: Fifth edition of International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure was organised under the aegis of Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.
About Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure
- CDRI is a global partnership that aims to promote resilience of infrastructure systems to climate & disaster risks, thereby ensuring sustainable development.
- Prime Minister of India launched CDRI during his speech at the UN Climate Action Summit on 23 September 2019.
- Objectives of CDRI: CDRI seeks to rapidly expand the development & retrofit of resilient infrastructure towards expanding universal access to basic services, enabling prosperity and decent work.
Functions of CDRI
- Raising awareness of the benefits of resilient infrastructure and building linkages with other relevant initiatives to achieve this.
- Serving as a platform for knowledge generation and exchange on disaster & climate resilient infrastructure.
- Enhancing national and regional standards, codes and guidelines for planning, design, operation & maintenance of infrastructure systems
- Enhancing practices and capacities to reduce infrastructure damages and losses from disasters and climate change.
- Enabling technological and institutional innovation for resilient infrastructure systems
- Making available technical expertise to assist countries to develop resilient infrastructure
- Advocating for financial arrangements, including risk transfer, supporting development of resilient infrastructure
- Assisting countries to adopt appropriate risk governance arrangements & strategies for resilient infrastructure.
- Governance of CDRI: Secretariat of CDRI is located in New Delhi and has three principal bodies: (i) Governing Council (ii) Executive Council (iii) Secretariat.
- Governing Council: Governing Council is the highest policy-making body of CDRI and will have representation from all members of CDRI such that at least two-thirds of the members of the Governing Council represent national governments. Members of. Governing Council shall be co-chaired by representatives of two national governments with India being the permanent co-chair of Governing Council. The other co-chair shall be nominated by rotation by the members of Governing Council, every two years.
- Executive Committee: Managerial body of CDRI that oversees implementation of decisions of Governing Council. It is a 10 member body with Director General being one of the members.
- Secretariat: Secretariat of the CDRI shall be headed by a Director-General appointed by the Governing Council.
- Membership: Membership of CDRI is open to national governments, UN Agencies & multilateral banks, private sector, academic & knowledge institutions. Currently, there are 31 member countries of CDRI and 8 member organisations.
- Funding: A large share of the estimated fund requirements to cover the core costs over the first five years has been invested by India. There are no obligations on the part of members to make financial contributions to CDRI.
Initiatives under CDRI
- Infrastructure Resilience Accelerator Fund (IRAF):
- A US $50 million multi-donor trust fund created by CDRI to support global action on disaster resilience of infrastructure systems, especially in developing countries and small island developing countries.
- IRAF will play a critical role in equipping the Coalition to deliver on improved infrastructure governance, inclusive infrastructure services and diversified knowledge and financing for resilient infrastructure globally.
- IRAF has been established with the support of UNDP & UNDRR and will be managed by UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office. IRAF was launched COP 27 of UNFCCC at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
- One of the first initiatives to be supported by IRAF is the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS).
- Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS):
- A dedicated initiative co-curated by Small Developing Island States (SIDS) and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) partners to promote resilient, sustainable, and inclusive infrastructure development in SIDS. IRIS will cater to all SIDS.
- IRIS will design and implement projects considering the demands and absorptive capacities of SIDS and strive to foster SIDS ownership and leadership in the development of resilient, sustainable and inclusive infrastructure.
- In the initial phase, IRIS will prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable SIDS.It was launched during COP 26 of UNFCCC at Glasgow.
- Focus areas of IRIS are:
- Improved resilience of SIDS infrastructure to climate change & disaster risks.
- Strengthened knowledge & partnerships for integrating resilience in SIDS infrastructure.
- Gender equality and disability inclusion promoted through SIDS infrastructure.
- Biennial Report on Global Infrastructure Resilience: Flagship report of CDRI focusing on critical challenges faced by infrastructure due to disaster and climate risks. The report will develop a Global Infrastructure Risk Model & Global Infrastructure Resilience Index (GIRI) and advocate pathways for nature based solutions for disaster resilient infrastructure, conduct review of global goals and targets for resilient infrastructure and finance for disaster & climate resilient infrastructure.
- International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI): Annual conference of CDRI bring together experts and participants from member countries, institutions and organisations to discuss challenges and identify good practices on disaster & climate resilient infrastructure.
- DRI Connect: An online platform to connect, learn and collaborate towards improved practices, processes and policies for resilient infrastructure systems.