Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sostenibilidad

Just another web-blogs Sites site

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Agriculture and Food Security
    • Climate change
    • Ecosystems and Biodiversity
    • Environmental and Social Safeguards
    • Infrastructure and Sustainable Landscapes
    • Institutionality
    • Responsible Production and Consumption
  • Authors
  • English
    • Español

Hurricane Season Reminds Us of the Need to Invest in Sustainable Infrastructure

September 8, 2017 por Daniella Restrepo Leave a Comment


A few days ago, Hurricane Harvey left catastrophic wreckage in its pass through the United States, particularly in Texas and Louisiana. The floods that came as a result of the tropical cyclone inundated homes, destroyed schools and displaced thousands of people.

This week, Hurricane Irma, the most powerful Atlantic Ocean storm in recorded history with winds of 185mph, is striking the Caribbean, causing immeasurable destruction in islands such as St. Martin and Barbuda and threatening to cause devastation in Florida. Right behind Irma, Hurricanes Katia and Jose are gaining strength, one headed towards Mexico and the other potentially hitting the same islands as Irma.

All these extreme weather events are a reminder of the need to prepare our cities for natural disasters by investing in infrastructure that is climate-resilient and sustainable. This means making sure that it will have:

  • Lower probabilities of failure
  • Less severe negative consequences when failures occur
  • Faster recovery from failures

Our societies are heavily dependent on properly functioning infrastructure systems to carry out our daily activities. It is core to our quality of life, to achieving better growth and to ensuring sustainable development. Unfortunately, infrastructure in the region remains highly vulnerable. As investment in infrastructure increases to satisfy the growing demand, investors should focus their efforts on projects that are designed taking into account the impact of climate events during their life span. The recent hurricanes have shown that this is crucial because:

  • Infrastructure failure is often a primary cause of economic and human losses in disasters.
  • Our infrastructure is interdependent. For example, loss of electric power can lead to disruptions in water, transportation and health care systems. Damaged roads can hinder the relocation of people to safer areas or the timely distribution of emergency relief.
  • Infrastructure that can endure disasters will reduce its negative environmental impact, such as debris from damaged structures, spills of hazardous materials and other contaminants, and the carbon footprint of reconstruction activities.
  • Investing in sustainable infrastructure is crucial to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement and avoid the intensification of extreme weather events caused by climate change.

The time is ripe to invest in sustainable infrastructure. The decisions that we make now will greatly impact our future due to a lock-in of capital and technology. Through our NDC Invest platform, the IDB is helping countries in the region to create investment plans that take into consideration the importance of building more resilient and sustainable cities. We are also providing additional resources that are often needed —particularly for infrastructure— to accelerate the preparation and execution of their projects.

 

Want to learn more about sustainable infrastructure? Watch the recording of our Facebook Live on the topic, with experts Amal-Lee Amin and Graham Watkins.

https://www.facebook.com/IADB.org/videos/10154864626692584/

titulo: Tormenta. Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

foto: foto: Ⓒ Rick González 

 


Filed Under: Infrastructure and Sustainable Landscapes

Daniella Restrepo

Daniella works as an external Strategic Communications Consultant for the IDB in topics related to climate change, sustainability, environmental and social safeguards and biodiversity. She has a B.A. in Communications from Universidad Javeriana in Colombia, and an M.A. in International Affairs from American University in Washington D.C.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

SEARCH

Sustainability

This blog is a space to reflect about the challenges, opportunities and the progress made by Latin American and Caribbean countries on the path towards the region’s sustainable development.

SIMILAR POSTS

  • International Day for Disaster Reduction: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
  • Are we prepared to deal with another refugee crisis?
  • Addressing the climate change challenge while living with it.
  • Is it worth it to invest in resilient constructions in the Caribbean? The answer is yes!
  • 5 Facts About Climate Change in the Caribbean

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

    Blog posts written by Bank employees:

    Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


    For blogs written by external parties:

    For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

    The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

    Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



    Privacy Policy

    Derechos de autor © 2025 · Magazine Pro en Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

    Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

    Aviso Legal

    Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

    facebook
    twitter
    youtube
    This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
    To learn more about cookies, click here
    x
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT