Background

Infrastructure systems worldwide are under increasing strain from climate and disaster risks, with impacts that extend beyond physical damage to disrupt economic growth, strain public finances, and undermine social well-being. These challenges are particularly acute in the Pacific region, where high exposure to hazards and underlying structural vulnerabilities significantly amplify the consequences of infrastructure disruptions. Recent analysis suggests that, between 2000 and 2022, climate change is estimated to have contributed to average annual losses of approximately US$1.7 billion across Small Island Developing States (SIDS), equivalent to around 0.8% of their combined GDP, while also being associated with more than 10,000 fatalities¹.

In this context, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, through its Global Infrastructure Resilience Report, provides a comprehensive assessment of infrastructure risk and resilience globally. While the inaugural Global Infrastructure Resilience Report (GIR 2023), grounded in data, evidence, and analytics through the Global Infrastructure Risk Model & Resilience Index (GIRI), introduced the concept of the resilience dividend (highlighting the long-term benefits of investing in resilience) across areas such as resilient finance and nature-based solutions, the Second Global Infrastructure Resilience Report (GIR 2025), launched at COP30, builds on this foundation by deepening the analysis and strengthening its practical relevance.

As part of its ongoing efforts to disseminate the key messages, CDRI is organizing a dedicated webinar with the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility (PRIF) to present the key findings, insights, and frameworks from GIR 2025. The session will present a structured overview of the report with a focus on how its evidence base can support infrastructure planning, investment, and policy decisions in the Pacific region. This webinar will be organized around the following core workstreams of GIR 2025:

• Risk Assessment through GIRI 2.0: Presenting expanded hazard coverage, sectoral analysis, and projections of future risk under different development pathways. A regional deep dive analysis for SIDS, along with country level analysis for Fiji, further amplifies the depth of the risk assessment.

• Macroeconomic Impacts: Presenting insights on the economy-wide effects of infrastructure failures across eight countries, including Fiji, to estimate impacts on GDP, productivity, and long-term development, as well as the importance of timely recovery and reconstruction.

• Global Infrastructure Resilience Surveys (For Experts, Professionals, and Businesses): Highlighting critical gaps between policy intent and implementation on the ground, including challenges related to institutional capacity, financing, technology adoption, and preparedness. GIRS also saw strong engagement with Pacific Island countries, including Tonga, Vanuatu, and Samoa.

• Resilience Finance: Examining the scale of the resilience financing gap and identifying strategies to shift from reactive to proactive investment, including the use of layered financial instruments and more efficient allocation of resources.

• Institutions and Governance: Exploring how governance systems shape resilience outcomes, with a focus on institutional capacity, coordination, regulatory frameworks, and integration of resilience across infrastructure lifecycles.

• Technologies for Resilient Infrastructure: Demonstrating how a range of technologies can enhance infrastructure performance across the resilience cycle. Case studies from Pacific nations such as Tonga and Vanuatu further illustrate how these approaches are being applied to restore connectivity, strengthen recovery systems, and support the post-disaster reconstruction of critical infrastructure.

• Nature-based Solutions (NbS): Highlighting how NbS can complement traditional infrastructure approaches by reducing risks, supporting recovery, and delivering multiple co-benefits, while emphasizing the need to scale hybrid solutions.

¹Panwar, V., Noy, I., & Wilkinson, E. (2025). Calculating loss and damage from extreme weather events in Small Island Developing States. Regional Environmental Change. Accessed at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-025-02408-7