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Key sectors must be made disaster resilient, says PM Modi at global conference
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who addressed the event virtually, said he and Modi have a shared vision for a sustainable future for the global community
The world community must review the performance of key sectors such as health and digital infrastructure during the Covid-19 pandemic and come up with ways to make them more resilient in future, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday.
Inaugurating an international conference on disaster resilient infrastructure, Modi cited the example of a winter storm knocking out a third of electricity generating capacity in the US state of Texas and said countries making large investments in infrastructure, such as India, must ensure such investments are resilient and not at risk.
Systems such as digital infrastructure, shipping lines and aviation networks cover the globe and the effect of a disaster in one part of the world can quickly spread across countries, he said. Cooperation is a must for ensuring the resilience of the global system, he said.
“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. What are the lessons from these sectors?” Modi said
“And how can we make them more resilient for the future,” he added.
The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), which is co-chaired by India and the UK, must embody the central promise of the Sustainable Development Goals, which is “leave no one behind”, and put the concerns of most vulnerable nations and communities first, Modi said.
The small island developing nations, which are already experiencing the impacts of worsening disasters, must have easy access to technology, knowledge and assistance they consider necessary, and CDRI must harness the full potential of geo-spatial technologies, space-based capabilities, data science, artificial intelligence and material sciences, and combine them with local knowledge for resilience, he said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who addressed the event virtually, said he and Modi have a shared vision for a sustainable future for the global community, and he was looking forward to discussing such issues during his upcoming visit to India in April.
“If our battle with Covid-19 has taught us anything over the past year, it is that we must be ready for whatever challenges may be coming next,” he said.
Since the launch of CDRI in 2019, a total of 28 countries and organisations have signed up with the coalition that is supporting those particularly at risk from climate change, such as small island nations, Johnson said. The UK is investing £5.2 billion in bolstering its own flood defences and working to help other countries adapt to the effects of climate change, he added.
