India has embarked on a major exercise to build disaster-resilient infrastructure as climate change issues get real, and unforeseen events bring new challenges. The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), a partnership of governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and private sector, is working on ways to design infrastructure for future risks, Kamal Kishore, member secretary, National Disaster Management Authority, India, said in an interview. It is also working on power sector resilience in cyclone-prone areas and making new hydrogen and telecom infrastructure, particularly telecom towers, resilient to disasters. Kishore, the executive co-chair of CDRI, also spoke about how technology is helping create resilient infrastructure and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Edited excerpts:
Climate change concerns are re-imagining our future. How is infrastructure development transitioning with this change?
Infrastructure systems and infrastructure development are changing in three fundamental ways. First, we have to design our infrastructure for future risks, not past risks. Second, we have to look at resilience of new infrastructure, which may be low or zero carbon. Finally, we have to look at infrastructure in integrated ways across sectors because there are inter-dependencies between them.
The climate change impact that we are seeing is unforeseen. How do we make our infrastructure and systems resilient to changes we are unaware of?
The first strategy, there are already observed impacts of climate. Certain things are apparent, which means that the way we assess risks of disasters we have to update our risk assessments continually. The second is that there are so many things that can be done that are no-regret solutions, such as establishing a better and more efficient system of clearing storm water drains and de-silting them before the monsoon to prevent urban floods. The third is that we have to diversify our investments and diversify our risks. Wherever possible, we should look at nature-based solutions and infrastructure as an integrated system.
We are advancing technologically every day. How can we leverage the technology to create disaster-resilient infrastructure?
The technology is moving at breakneck speed. Sometimes I feel that our practices are lagging behind. For example, old bridges that can’t be upgraded can have sensors installed on them that will help determine how the structure is behaving as the load increases. You can get early warning in time. You can actually monitor the functioning of infrastructure systems in real time. Sensor-based technologies are really advancing very quickly. The networks, computing, and all of that is increasing very rapidly. You can use them in case of floods and in the mountains. We can use drones for mapping areas after a disaster, for conveying information to people.
How do we focus on achieving the goals of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development?
Eleven of the 17 goals cannot be achieved without good infrastructure. I think infrastructure is at the heart of sustainable development goals. Only one goal explicitly talks about it, but the others also cannot be achieved if we do not have good and resilient infrastructure. Infrastructure planning in India is done in a coordinated way through the national infrastructure pipeline. Finally, how to make the infra green or low carbon. There are several good examples of upgrade of standards in the country. The dedicated freight corridor is a sterling example of low carbon climate resolution structure. The country is really adopting the best practices from the world to work in this direction.
What role will human centred design play in building forward and building back better?
When we have a human centred design, we put people at the centre. The whole focus is on meeting the needs and demands articulated by people themselves. So the focus is not on the asset for the sake of asset, but for improving lives and livelihoods. As such, there is much greater outcome orientation.
What projects are CDRI working on?
There is one project on power sector resilience in cyclone-prone areas. Another looks at resilience of airports across the world and involves as many as 150 airports. There is a project that is looking at how we make the new hydrogen infrastructure safe from disasters. There is a project that is looking at how we make telecom infrastructure, particularly telecom towers, resilient to disasters. There are a number of these sectoral initiatives. In addition to that, there are a number of cross-sector initiatives, which include global risk assessment and a fellowship programme for CDRI member-country researchers.
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