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Infrastructure systems resilience is broadly defined as the ability to reduce the magnitude and/or duration of disruptive events. The effectiveness of a resilient infrastructure or enterprise depends upon its ability to anticipate, absorb, adapt to, and/or rapidly recover from a potentially disruptive event.

There is ongoing debate and discussion around a specific definition for infrastructure resilience, both across academia, industry and policymakers globally. The widely accepted UN definition for resilience is: “The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions.”

In terms of how we define an infrastructure system in this context, please refer to [|Public Infrastructure] or [|Critical infrastructure]. Additionally, UNISDR define critical infrastructure as follows: “Critical facilities are the primary physical structures, technical facilities and systems which are socially, economically or operationally essential to the functioning of a society or community, both in routine circumstances and in the extreme circumstances of an emergency".

Infrastructure systems typically comprise of the physical infrastructure assets, the wider system that these assets are part of including the natural environment, the organisations that own and operate these systems, and the humans who make decisions across the value chains for these systems.

The importance of resilient infrastructure
The continued uninterrupted supply of water and power; road, rail, water and air transport connectivity; and secure telecommunications are vital for societal function. Infrastructure development is critical to delivering growth, reducing poverty and addressing broader development goals. Globally, the value of infrastructure has been rated at 37 trillion Euros. Subsequently, the cost of inaction, in the context of climate change, is predicted to be US$4.2 trillion. Infrastructure resilience is about people, and having resilient infrastructure will help ensure people will not lose their jobs because they cannot get to work, that they can get urgent medical care, and that their children can get to school. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) has set a target to provide resilient infrastructure by 2030. Established targets related to resilient infrastructure include:


 * Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and trans-border infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all;
 * By 2030, upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable, with increased resource use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes, with all countries taking action in accordance with their respective capabilities;
 * Facilitate sustainable and resilient infrastructure development in developing countries through enhanced financial, technological and technical support to African countries, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states.

Ensuring resilient infrastructure also contributes to UNISDR’s Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. This wants to see the substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries.

Threats to infrastructure resilience
Existing infrastructure systems are increasingly complex and interdependent, spreading across national borders and continents, and more and more reliant on sophisticated digital technology. As a result, infrastructure systems are exposed to many shocks and stresses, that for example include:

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has also revealed the urgent need for resilient infrastructure.
 * Accelerating Urbanisation - rural to urban migration will continue with the urban population growing by 46%, triggering massive demand for infrastructure support
 * Climate change and extreme weather events
 * Population growth where by 2040 it is estimated that the global population will have grown by almost 2 billion people (a 25% increase).
 * Ageing infrastructure – where ageing is defined as the change of performance with elapse of time.