This webinar, organised by the FIDIC Sustainable Development Committee on Tuesday 5 November 2024, will be examining an issue that is growing in importance in the industry – how to build resilient infrastructure to take account of the challenges of climate change and ensure that what is developed is truly sustainable for the short, medium and long term.

Resilient infrastructure is an indispensable foundation for achieving sustainable development. Infrastructure provides critical services to communities, supporting economic functions, and serving as the first line of defence against shocks and disasters. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction’s Principles for Resilient Infrastructure outline a set of principles, key actions, and guidelines to create national scale net resilience gain and improve the continuity of critical services such as energy, transport, water, wastewater, waste, and digital communications, which enable health, education, etc. to function effectively. 
 
These global principles aim to raise awareness and set an understanding of what “resilient infrastructure” constitutes; form the basis for planning and implementation of infrastructure projects that take resilience as a core value; communicate the desired outcomes of national infrastructure systems to establish resilience of critical services; and assist the public and private sectors in making risk-informed policy and investment decisions.

But what does ‘resilient infrastructure’ look like on the ground, especially in ‘developing’ countries and what is the role of engineering firms, of all sizes, in delivering it? Issues like equitability, social justice, fair transition, social value and community benefit all need to be considered as part of any discussion on resilience and this webinar will address these key areas and give attendees a greater understanding of resilient infrastructure, what it looks like and, most importantly, how do we achieve it?