Perspectives On Governance And Policy For Disaster Resilient Infrastructure
Day 3, 19 March 2021, 1700–1800 IST
Session Annotation:
This session on governance and policy will bring together high-level stakeholders across CDRI member countries, the private sector and civil society organizations. It will discuss challenges faced, enabling conditions and solutions for disaster resilient infrastructure through the lens of policy and governance. The session will also act as a curtain raiser for COP26. This session will bring together the information gathered from sectoral, regional and thematic perspectives on disaster resilient infrastructure over the two days of the conference and conclude with the lessons of ICDRI 2021.
Session Overview:
Governance forms the backbone of public as well as private investments in disaster resilient infrastructure. Governance and policy are also drivers of social inclusion and equal opportunities. Achieving commitments across sustainable and disaster resilient infrastructure is dependent on the quality of governance. This includes processes by which policies are formulated and implemented and the respect for citizens, institutions and actors that play a role in infrastructure development.
This session on governance and policy will focus on some of the governance and policy challenges that act as barriers to building disaster resilient infrastructure (DRI) from the perspectives of different actors. More broadly, it is expected to trigger ideas and discussions on the governance and policy frameworks that will enable countries to achieve the SDGs and the SFDRR and Paris Agreement goals by 2030.
The session will address the following questions:
- Governments around the world are looking at infrastructure investments as a vehicle to provide economic stimulus, jobs and overcome the current global economic downturn. For example, India is envisaging massive investments through its National Infrastructure Pipeline. What are the critical policies that are needed in the next two years to safeguard these investments against climate change and disasters? How do we achieve this in the context of a difficult fiscal situation arising from the pandemic?
- The world is poised to surpass the 1.5°C target based on current emissions. How do we ensure that we not only make our infrastructure disaster and climate resilient but also make it low carbon? How do we manage this rapid transition in our infrastructure systems?
- Businesses around the world see the COVID-19 crisis as a turning point for a new market structure based on new technologies as well as mergers and acquisitions. How does the private sector view this transition in the context of building resilient infrastructure? In your opinion, what are the most urgent steps in 2021 to fast-track regulatory reforms for boosting private sector investment in resilient infrastructure?
