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6.73 In March 2021, the Hon’ble Prime Ministers of India, UK, Italy and Fiji launched the third
International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI), which discussed key global
issues around resilience of critical infrastructure sectors such as power, telecommunications and
health as well as urban infrastructure systems and disaster risk financing.

6.74 In November 2021, the Hon’ble Prime Ministers of India, UK, Australia, Fiji, Jamaica
and Mauritius launched the Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS). This is a dedicated
initiative for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) that provides quality technical and financial
services to make SIDS infrastructure resilient to climate change and disaster events. India has
pledged USD 10 million, while Australia and the UK have pledged AUD 10 million GBP 7.3
million respectively for the IRIS initiative.

6.75 Further, CDRI has launched two other initiatives. CDRI’s Global Flagship Report on
Disaster and Climate Resilient Infrastructure aims to engage and focus global attention on the
critical and multi-faceted challenges posed to disaster and climate-resilient infrastructure. DRI
Connect is a "network of networks" enabling stakeholder access to knowledge resources and
collaborative opportunities with their peers and other actors. These initiatives are in addition
to CDRI’s ongoing programmes on enhancing the power sector's resilience in Odisha and the
global study on disaster resilience of airports.

Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT Group)

6.76 LeadIT was launched by India and Sweden, with the support of the World Economic
Forum at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York in September 2019, as one of the nine
action tracks identified by the UN Secretary-General to boost climate ambitions and actions to
implement the Paris Agreement. In November 2021, the Joint Ministerial Statement released
at the Leadership Summit called countries and companies to come out with roadmaps for deep
reductions in emissions across all heavy industries and value chains in the coming decade.

CONCLUSION
6.77 India’s performance on the NITI Aayog SDG India Index has improved from an overall
score of 60 in 2019-20 to 66 in 2020-21. India has also been making significant strides in
increasing its forest area, ranking third globally in net gain in forest area during the decade
(2010-20). Much of India’s increase in forest cover during 2011-21 is attributed to enhancement
in very dense forest cover, which rose by approximately 20 per cent during the period. Open
forest cover also improved by seven per cent during the period. Going forward, there is need to
further improve forest and tree cover. Social forestry could also play a significant role in this
regard.

6.78 States/UTs need to improve management of its ground water resources through improving
its recharge and by stemming its over-exploitation, and to prevent the critical and semi-critical
assessment units from further worsening.

6.79 There is a greater thrust on climate action following the announcement of India’s target of
becoming Net Zero by 2070. Climate finance will remain critical to successful climate action by
developing countries, including India.