Opinion: As Disasters Intensify, Climate-Resilient Infra Is No Longer Just An Option For India. It’s An Urgent Need

An aerial view of houses at a flood-affected area in Bihar's Darbhanga district on October 4.

Source : PTI

India now faces a considerable challenge to cope with climate change. The average annual losses are increasing day-by-day as natural disasters like floods, droughts, and heatwaves occur more often. To cope with this, we need climate-resilient infrastructure that minimises the damage caused by climatic events such as floods, cyclones, and droughts. Becoming climate-resilient is no longer an option but a matter of great urgency and concern that requires intervention and action by policymakers, stakeholders, and the community.

Understanding Climate Resilience In Infrastructure

Climate-resilient infrastructure is simply an infrastructure system designed, constructed, and operated in a fashion that incorporates anticipation, adaptation, and preparedness for climate change. Such resilience enables the infrastructure to avoid disruptions, recover quickly and/or perform even under adverse climatic conditions. Considering India’s vulnerability to several natural disasters, climate-resilient infrastructure — including multi-hazard disaster- resilient and operable systems — is of paramount importance for it. 

Such infrastructure will ensure economic activity continues even amid disaster, and improve the nation’s ability to provide vital services — transportation, water, electricity — in such times. Incorporating such infrastructure will also help protect and preserve physical assets.

Moreover, climate-resilient infrastructure is efficient in helping realise strategic developmental endeavours based on long-horizon forecasts, thereby attracting investments and creating security for growth. By pursuing climate resilience, there will be a limit to the large-scale adverse impacts of natural disasters on sustained economic growth and prosperous quality of life for India’s citizens.

The Economic And Human Impact Of Climate Change  

The consequences of climate change — such as floods and cyclones of greater intensity and at shorter intervals — affect infrastructure and have wide-reaching implications for economic development and social health. For instance, the 2024 Wayanad floods left more than 500 dead and rendered thousands of families homeless, with massive road networks damaged. Such episodes highlight the extreme dependence of India’s infrastructure on natural forces fuelled by changing climatic conditions. The destruction inhibits economic activities and cuts off populations from basic services like access to roads, food, healthcare and education, thus extending recovery time. Two other recent floods — in Himachal Pradesh and Bihar — drive the point home further.

Flash floods have risen sharply in Himachal Pradesh over the last few years. According to the State Disaster Management Authority, there were 72 flash floods in 2023, and 75 in 2022. This is a stark increase compared to 16 flash floods in 2021. This year, until the monsoon season, government data recorded 51 flash flood events. 

These heavy rains and flash floods have been causing havoc in this hilly state and stirring the drying up of many traditional water sources, such as natural springs. Flash floods, which have invariably been associated with non-mountainous regions, have been increasingly observed in the Himalayan region, with high death tolls and destruction of infrastructural facilities.

Bihar, which suffers floods nearly every monsoon season, witnessed a deluge again in September 2024. Amid the summer rains this year, river bunds broke in Purnia, Supaul, and Darbhanga as the Kosi and Gandak barrages became full, leading to excessive flooding downstream. 

According to the Bihar Disaster Management Department, more than 429 villages in 17 districts of Bihar are vulnerable to flooding. The rescue response this year included 16 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and 17 State Disaster Response Forces (SDRF) teams, and around 260,000 people were evacuated. It is still a struggle to provide adequate relief and control the spread of water-related diseases during such events. 

Building Resilient And Sustainable Infrastructure

Combined with climate-risk assessment, sustainable design and materials are important aspects in boosting resilience and ensuring care for the environment of infrastructure. The effects of this strategy can be seen in the Kochi Metro, which combines renewable energy with green cover for easy commuting while reducing carbon emissions. Additionally, with climate change, adaptive infrastructure is critical for effective operations. The smart city projects in Chennai demonstrate adaptive features like rainwater harvesting technology to mitigate water scarcity and urban flooding problems.

Using nature-based solutions improves infrastructure resilience, as environmental shocks are buffered by using ecosystems. The restoration of the mangroves within the Sundarbans illustrates how such initiatives can relatively safeguard coastal areas from cyclones. 

To realise such initiatives, seeking climate funds and combining international and regional efforts is necessary. 

Public awareness and community involvement are also very important. Understanding climate resilience in communities leads to people getting involved in planning and preparedness, such as community-based watershed management projects for preventing floods and droughts. Recent improvements like the PM e-bus sewa scheme incorporate these core ideas. This programme, which was launched in 2023, seeks to put 10,000 electric buses in 169 cities with a reasonable allocation. Such efforts help propel green transport and reduce urban pollution, supporting greater climate-change resilience.

The development of climate-resilient infrastructure in India is an all-in-one package, containing risk assessment, sustainability principles in designs and measures, management of preparedness and recovery, financial instruments, and community engagement. These components clear the way for sustainable and resilient development, enabling India to cope with climate change better.

Challenges And The Path Ahead

India’s strategic framework for resilience also incorporates initiatives like the National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC), which assists in the implementation of essential adaptation measures on a regional scale. Partnerships with technical institutions such as IITs and management institutions such as IIMs and ISB may provide technical support that extends the reach of resilience efforts to various sectors. An important stakeholder here is the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Ministry of Finance because they have to make sure that the companies that build climate-resilient infrastructure incorporate climate-risk management, and that there is adequate financing.

The capacity to raise and provide adequate adaptation finance is a major impediment, as the funding from inter- and intra-country sources is short of expectations. Strategies to diversify the revenue base and incorporate financial-risk parameters into the infrastructural development paradigm are essential in addressing these challenges.

Revision of operating policies and timely infrastructure refurbishment might help reduce the negative aftermath of catastrophes. Cross-sector collaboration could close knowledge gaps and bring in the necessary investment to develop proper O&M (operations and maintenance) regimes.

Developing climate-resilient infrastructure in a country like India presents a huge challenge but a magnificent opportunity. By adopting adaptive designs, sustainable practices, and improving financing mechanisms, India can protect its people, mainly the most vulnerable, against the ever-changing risks posed by climate change. 

The way forward requires hard work, creativity and collective action by the government and society. It is possible to build the society of the future — comprising infrastructure that will withstand the adverse effects of climate change — by taking the necessary steps today.

Anjal Prakash is a Clinical Associate Professor (Research) and Research Director at Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business (ISB). 

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