7-Nov-2022: Union Minister for Environment Forest and Climate Change Shri Bhupender Yadav speaks at the UN Secretary General High Level Round Table

Union Minister for Environment Forest and Climate Change Shri Bhupender Yadav spoke at the UN Secretary-General-High-Level Round Table to launch the Early Warnings for All Executive Action Plan, today, at the World leaders’ Summit, COP 27, Sharm El-Sheikh.

Speaking at the event Shri Yadav said:

“We fully support the Secretary General’s agenda to achieve Early Warnings for All. The global pace of climate mitigation is not enough to contain the rate of climate change. There is an urgent need for the world to acknowledge the cascading natural hazards that cause substantial losses around the world.

But these issues focus our minds for a moment and then soon lose attention as the countries most able to do something about it are the least affected. They are also the biggest contributors to climate change.

The most vulnerable regions are located between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Much of the developing world, including India, lies between these tropics. Public expenditures and loss of revenues following the onset of external disasters have already begun to rise in this region with the least coping capacity.

The intensification of tropical cyclones in the Pacific and Caribbean means that some small tropical states have lost 200% of their national income in a few hours. Instances such as these could have devastating consequences in countries that do not have sufficient means to cope with them.

With climate finance still scarce, climate adaptation in the form of early warning dissemination is key in safeguarding lives, and livelihoods. Early Warnings For All play a part in not just containing the immediate physical impacts, but also mitigating the far-reaching long-term socio-economics implications that follow.

India has been working on strengthening end-to-end early warning systems for all hydro-meteorological hazards.  This has led to concrete results:  We have reduced mortality from cyclones by up to 90% over the last 15 years. On both east and west coasts, we have nearly 100% coverage of early warning systems for cyclones. Similarly for other hazards – such as Heat waves – we are making swift progress, leading to much greater resilience of our communities.

Over the last few years, we have made concerted efforts towards making early warning impact-based as well as more easily understandable and actionable by communities. We have integrated hazard, vulnerability and exposure information to develop Web – DCRA (Dynamic composite Risk Atlas) to enable swift and advanced action on early warnings.

The Cyclone Warning Division (CWD) at IMD, New Delhi also acts as a multilateral Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre for monitoring, predicting and issuing warning services on tropical cyclones developing over the north Indian Ocean (one of the six centres in the World) along with 13 countries in Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea region. The collaboration helped in the exchange of meteorological data from the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and Arabian Sea countries to IMD and improved monitoring and forecast.

Moreover, the meteorological data of satellite & radar, and model guidance from IMD along with Tropical Cyclone Advisory Bulletins helped the countries to minimize losses of lives. As an example, the number of lives lost has been minimised, being limited to 100 due to tropical cyclones during the last 10 years, not only in India but also in all the countries in the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea region for which IMD provides tropical cyclone forecast and advisories.

We would now like to maximize the full potential of Early Warning Systems for not just reducing the loss of lives but also livelihoods and national development gains. India has spearheaded the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) which is working towards developing applications of climate forecast and early warning for reducing infrastructure losses and disruption in basic services.

The Prime Minister of India, Shri. Narendra Modi at the IRIS (Infrastructure for Resilient Island States) launch in Glasgow at COP26 highlighted the importance of IRIS for human welfare. The Prime Minister said, and I quote

“IRIS gives hope, belief and a great sense of fulfilment to the most vulnerable nations. I congratulate CDRI for this. IRIS and CDRI are just not about infrastructure but about responsibility of human welfare. It is the collective responsibility of all of us towards mankind. I consider the launch of IRIS very important. Through IRIS, it will be easy for SIDS to mobilize technology, finance and necessary information faster. Promotion of quality infrastructure in Small Island States will benefit both lives and livelihoods there.”

India has created and is nurturing the CDRI.  It has been making concerted efforts to engage various stakeholder institutions and individuals to promote innovation and resilience in infrastructure. One such initiative is the “DRI Connect” which will be a web-based platform for stakeholders engaged in infrastructure sectors. The platform is envisaged to harness collective intelligence of Coalition membership towards creation of new knowledge and actionable solutions to address challenges in resilient infrastructure and foster an environment of action-based learning and innovation on disaster resilient infrastructure.

Currently, CDRI’s Membership has expanded to include 31 countries and eight member organizations. There is growing footprint in Africa region. South Sudan and European Investment Bank are the latest members endorsing the Charter. CDRI’s strategic initiatives, expanding programme, and membership engagement is enabling it to progress towards the achievement of its goal.

Climate finance is still a mirage, and effective climate adaptation such as Early Warnings For All helps us collectively in our region toward reducing vulnerabilities and ensuring preparedness and swift and timely response to natural hazards.”

29-Jun-2022: Cabinet approves Categorization of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) as an ‘International Organization’ and signing of the Headquarters Agreement (HQA) with CDRI for granting it the exemptions, immunities and privileges as contemplated under the United Nations (Privileges & Immunities) Act, 1947

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the categorization of the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) as an ‘International Organization’ and signing of the Headquarters Agreement (HQA) with CDRI for granting it the exemptions, immunities and privileges as contemplated under the United Nations (Privileges & Immunities) Act, 1947.

Categorization of CDRI as an ‘International Organisation’ and signing of HQA with CDRI for grant of exemptions, immunities and privileges as contemplated under Section-3 of the United Nations (Privileges & Immunities) Act, 1947 will provide it an independent and international legal persona so that it can efficiently and effectively carry out its functions internationally. This will help the CDRI in:

1. Deputing experts to other countries, that are particularly vulnerable to disaster risk and / or require support for post disaster recovery and also bringing in experts from member countries to India, for similar purposes;
2. Deploying funds globally and receive contributions from member countries, for CDRI activities;
3. Making available technical expertise to assist countries to develop resilient infrastructure in accordance with their disaster and climate risks and resources;
4. Imparting assistance to countries in adopting appropriate risk governance arrangements and strategies for resilient infrastructure;
5. Rendering all possible support to member countries in upgrading their systems to ensure disaster and climate resilience of existing and future infrastructure, while aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction;
6. Leveraging international engagement to foster disaster resilient infrastructure at home; and,
7. Providing Indian scientific and technical institution as well as infrastructure developers an opportunity to interact with global experts. This will help build our own capacities and mechanisms — both in public and private sectors — to support disaster resilient infrastructure development.

Since its launch, thirty-one (31) Countries, six (06) International Organizations and two (02) private sector organizations have joined as members of CDRI.  CDRI has been expanding its membership consistently by attracting a wide variety of economically advanced countries, developing countries, and countries that are most vulnerable to climate change and disasters.

Over a period of time, a network of organizations / stakeholders will be developed to advance disaster resilient infrastructure not only in India but other partner countries as well.

Background:

On 28th August, 2019, the Cabinet had approved the setting up of CDRI with its Secretariat in New Delhi along with a support of Rs. 480 crore to CDRI. The support from Government of India serves as a corpus for CDRI to fund technical assistance and research projects on an ongoing basis, setting up the Secretariat office and covering recurring expenditures over a period of 5 years from 2019-20 to 2023-24. 

The CDRI was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India during the United Nations Climate Action Summit on the 23rd September, 2019, at New York. It is the second major global initiative launched by the Government of India and is a demonstration of India's leadership role in climate change and disaster resilience matters, globally.

CDRI is a global partnership of National Governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, academic and knowledge institutions that aims to promote the resilience of infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks, thereby ensuring sustainable development.

17-Dec-2020: Dr. Harsh Vardhan addresses event by Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare digitally addressed an event by Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) and UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR),here today through Video Conference. The theme of the event was “Build Back Better: building resilient health infrastructure and supply chains.”

At the outset, Dr Vardhan applauded the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure for organising the webinar with a forward looking perspective on how to make  health infrastructure and supply chains more resilient.

Speaking on the COVID trajectory in India, Dr Vardhan said, “It has been almost one year since the outbreak of COVID-19. While the caseload infection in many parts of the world is decreasing, many others are experiencing a second or even a third peak. Fortunately, in India, the cases are steadily coming down. We recognized the threat early and pursued a scientific evidence based approach.”

Highlighting the steps taken by India to handle the unprecedented humanitarian crisis, Dr Vardhan stated, “Our first step was to expand our present capacities swiftly, whether it was for testing, PPE production, or hospital beds. We looked at the problem in greater granularity and scaled up at an incredible pace.”

He continued in this regard, “We also repurposed our capacities from multiple research disciplines across a wide range of public and private institutions. We repurposed defense research capacities for quickly erecting hospitals with enhanced capacity. From being an importer of PPEs before the pandemic, India is now a net exporter of PPEs.  We scaled up our testing capacity from a few hundred tests per day to a million tests per day. The nimbleness that the Indian research institutions have shown needs to be not only preserved but also encouraged.”

Dr. Harsh Vardhan also detailed on how effective communication strategy has been a cornerstone of the approach. He noted, “We have used every possible means to mobilize everyone. The Hon’ble Prime Minister himself has led this effort and addressed the citizens directly. He has also emphasized the spirit of cooperative federalism, wherein the state and central governments worked hand in hand at each stage.”

Emphasizing upon the multipronged approach to combat COVID, the Minister said, “Apart from this, we recognized early that while the health sector has to be at the forefront of combating COVID-19, it requires involvement of all of the government functions – disaster management, industry, civil aviation, shipping, pharmaceuticals, and environment and so on. We innovated early on to establish an institutional platform in the form of “empowered groups” to bring together these multi-sectoral functions in a cohesive manner.”

He also commented, “We made innovative use of a range of digital technologies to track, monitor and control the disease. In a country like India – with a large digital divide – we had to ensure that we use a judicious mix of different technologies so that no one is left behind.”

Dr Vardhan said, “I believe that some of the good practices that have been developed in many countries of the world during the pandemic need to be institutionalized. We do not need to reinvent these in the future. At the same time, we have to think about how we could have done this better. We need a deeper conversation about what “building back better” in the context of public health infrastructure would mean ! How do we combine modern science with traditional wisdom? How do we define “health infrastructure”? Is it only the big hospitals, district hospitals and primary health care centres? Or is it the whole system involving other sectors including, water and sanitation, social welfare, transport, and industry? These are important issues that get thrown up and need revaluation.”

Reiterating that disaster resilience as an essential area of common interest globally, he stated, “Over the past decades, India and nations of the world have seen unprecedented progress in economic and human development. However, as COVID-19 has shown, all of this notable progress is at risk if we do not make our systems resilient. The key lesson from the pandemic is that the principles of resilience must be integral to our quest for economic growth as individual nations and the international community. Our lives and livelihoods may very well depend on it. In doing so, we have to make our systems resilient to not only pandemics but all types of risks, including those emerging from the effects of climate change.”

He added, “We must forge a global dialogue and chart directions for a resilient future for humanity at large. This would be the most worthy tribute to our people – particularly health workers, emergency responders, frontline workers – who have put the world’s safety before their own personal safety.”

14-Nov-2019: PM requests BRICS countries and NDB to join Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure initiative

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi along with the Heads of states of other BRICS countries participated in the Leaders dialogue with BRICS Business Council and New Development Bank.

Prime Minister said that the BRICS Business Council created a roadmap to achieve the $ 500 billion Intra-BRICS trade target by the next summit and identification of economic complementarities among BRICS countries would be important in this effort. The partnership agreement between New Development Bank and BRICS Business Council would be useful for both the institutions.

PM requested BRICS countries and NDB to join Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure initiative. He also requested that the work of establishing the Regional Office of NDB in India should be completed soon. This will give a boost to projects in priority areas.

PM concluded that our dream of strengthening BRICS economic cooperation can be realized only with the full cooperation of the Business Council and New Development Bank.

24-Sep-2019: Prime Minister announces Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure at UN Climate Action Summit 2019

Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi announced a global Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), at the UN Climate Action Summit 2019 held in New York City, USA, on September 23, 2019.

On the occasion of the announcement of the coalition, witnessed by global leaders, government functionaries, international delegates and diplomats from across the world, Shri Modi stated, “What is needed today is a comprehensive approach that covers everything including education, values to lifestyle and development philosophies. What we need is a global people’s movement to bring about behavioral change; need, not greed is our guiding principle. So, therefore India is here today to present a practical approach and roadmap. In order to make our infrastructure resilient in the face of disasters, India is launching a Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure. I invite all member states to join this Coalition.”

The partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks, financing mechanisms, private sector, and knowledge institutions will promote the resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks, thereby ensuring sustainable development.

Developed through consultations with more than 35 countries, CDRI envisions enabling measurable reduction in infrastructure losses from disasters, including extreme climate events. CDRI thus aims to enable the achievement of objectives of expanding universal access to basic services and enabling prosperity as enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals, while also working at the intersection of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Paris Climate Agreement.

Established as a platform for generating and exchanging knowledge, CDRI will conduct country-specific and global activities. CDRI will provide member countries technical support and capacity development, research and knowledge management, and advocacy and partnerships to facilitate and encourage investment in disaster resilient infrastructure systems.

In its formative stage, CDRI will focus on developing resilience in ecological infrastructure, social infrastructure with a concerted emphasis on health and education, and economic infrastructure with special attention to transportation, telecommunications, energy, and water.

Within 2-3 years, the coalition aims to have a 3-fold impact of achieving considerable changes in member countries’ policy frameworks, future infrastructure investments and high reduction in economic losses from climate-related events and natural disasters across sectors. CDRI will uphold the UN Agenda 2030 principle of leaving no one, no place, and no ecosystem behind, focusing on the most vulnerable regions and populations, while enabling inclusive and deliberative processes that recognize national and local efforts as primal.

An event is also being co-hosted by the Government of India and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) on September 25, 2019 on the sidelines of SDG Summit 2019 to further deliberate on the significance of investing in resilient infrastructure to achieve climate and development goals. This side event will also provide an opportunity to the Government of India and UNDRR to provide an overview and objectives of CDRI, and establish key milestones for its work over the coming years.

28-Aug-2019: Cabinet approves Establishment of an International Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given ex-post facto approval for the Establishment of an International Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) along with its supporting Secretariat Office in New Delhi. The proposal was approved by the Prime Minister on 13th August, 2019.

The CDRI is proposed to be launched at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York, USA on 23rd September 2019. Organized by the UN Secretary General, this event will bring together the largest number of Heads of States to generate commitments for combating the effects of climate change and resulting disasters, and will provide the high-level visibility required for the CDRI.

The approval, inter-alia, is for the following initiatives:

1. Establishment of the International ‘C.D.R.I.’ along with its supporting Secretariat office in New Delhi;
2. Establishment of the Secretariat of the CDRI as a Society under The Societies Registration Act,1860 in New Delhi as ‘CDRI Society’ or similar name as per availability. The memorandum of association and by-laws of the ‘CDRI Society’ will be prepared and finalized by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), in due course;
3. In-principle approval for Government of India support of Rs. 480 crore (approx. USD 70 million) to CDRI for a corpus required to fund technical assistance and research projects on an on-going basis, setting up the Secretariat office and covering recurring expenditures over a period of 5 years from 2019-20 to 2023-24; and
4. The endorsed version of the Charter document that will act as the founding document of the CDRI. The charter will be finalized after taking inputs from potential member countries by the NDMA in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs.

Major Impact: The CDRI will serve as a platform where knowledge is generated and exchanged on different aspects of disaster and climate resilience of infrastructure. It will bring together technical expertise from a multitude of stakeholders. In doing so, it will create a mechanism to assist countries to upgrade their capacities and practices, with regard to infrastructure development in accordance with their risk context and economic needs.

This initiative will benefit all sections of society. Economically weaker sections of society, women and children, are the most vulnerable to the impacts of disasters and hence, will be benefitted from the improvement of knowledge and practice in creating disaster resilient infrastructure. It will also benefit all areas with high disaster risk. In India, the north-eastern and Himalayan regions are prone to earthquakes, coastal areas to cyclones and tsunamis and central peninsular region to droughts.

Innovation:

• There are many initiatives on different aspects of disaster risk reduction and many initiatives on infrastructure development in different in a range of countries with different disaster risk and development contexts.
• A global coalition for disaster resilient infrastructure would address concerns that are common to developing and developed countries, small and large economies, countries at early and advanced stages of infrastructure development, and countries that have moderate or high disaster risk.
• Few concrete initiatives work at the intersection of Sendai Framework, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Climate Change Adaptation with a focus on infrastructure.
• Focus on disaster resilient infrastructure would simultaneously address the loss reduction targets under the Sendai Framework, address a number of SDGs and also contribute to climate change adaptation. Hence, there is a clear niche for a Global Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.
•  Publication of natural hazard risk information about the different regions in India will allow the public to understand the risk in their regions and demand for risk mitigation and preparedness measures from their local and State Governments.