International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure ICDRI 2023 will focus on pathways for delivering resilient and inclusive infrastructure

New Delhi, India: The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), opened the 5th edition of its flagship conference, ICDRI 2023, today at the Taj Palace, New Delhi, India. ICDRI 2023 is focused on bringing solutions integrating resilience in infrastructure to ensure access, delivery and continuity of essential services to people and communities. This is becoming essential especially in the face of increasing exposure and impact of disasters and extreme climatic events.

Inaugurating the conference, Hon. Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi said, “Infrastructure is not only about returns but also about reach and resilience. Infrastructure must leave none behind and serve the people even during time of crisis. A holistic view of infrastructure is needed. Studying past disasters and learning lessons from them is the way”.

He further added, “Some of the initiatives of the CDRI are already showing their inclusive intent. The Infrastructure for Resilient Island States initiative or IRIS benefits many island nations. Since the commitment of financial resources is key to the success of initiatives, the US $50 million Infra Resilience Accelerator Fund was announced last year, which has generated immense interest amongst developing nations. I am confident that the deliberations at ICDRI 2023 will provide a pathway to achieve the shared vision of a more resilient world.”

Hon. Prime Minister of Bangladesh Smt. Sheikh Hasina shared, “Since origins of climate change are global, the solution and management would also have to be global. Only if the global efforts and individual countries’ efforts are streamlined through responsive policy, planning and governance, the actions are likely to be successful. Bangladesh is ready to join any initiative at a regional or global level dealing with the impacts of climate change. I call for coordinated global efforts and shared vision for climate adaptation mitigation and resilient infrastructure.”

Featuring over 17 sessions, ICDRI 2023 follows a hybrid format, convening DRI stakeholders, CDRI Member Countries and partners on a common platform to strengthen the global discourse on disaster and climate resilient infrastructure. It will also showcase 4 experiential booths covering virtual reality, gaming technologies, AI for Resilient Cities, Seismic AI amongst others.

The two-day conference will witness deliberations on solutions and pathways to ‘Delivering Resilient Infrastructure’, delving into practices of creating risk-informed systems, resilient infrastructure assets, and innovative financing ensuring resilient infrastructure for people and economies across different geographies, climate typologies, and infrastructure sectors.

The highlight of ICDRI 2023 will be the new launches and announcements by CDRI:

Day one will see an MOU being signed between CDRI and Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA), launch of Infrastructure Resilience Academic eXchange (IRAX), an initiative enabling next generation of infrastructure professionals, and the announcement of key findings from the 1st Phase of the Global Study on Disaster Resilience of Airports based on 111 airports across 56 countries.

Day two will feature the announcement of Cohort 2023-24 of the CDRI Fellowship programme supporting actionable and scalable solutions for real-world problems on DRI, and the launch of the DRI Lexicon initiative to foster conceptual understanding of infrastructure related terms and phrases.

Launched by Hon. Prime Minister of India, Shri. Narendra Modi at the UN Climate Action Summit at New York on 23 September 2019, 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.

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.