“Infrastructure is the driver and enabler of the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” according to the Economist Intelligent Unit. This insight has profound implications. The 17 UN SDGs for 2030 and their associated targets have been agreed to by nearly every country in the world. They stand as a cohesive force for a civilization beset by centrifugal forces that threaten the safety and well-being of humanity. National Adaptation Plans for every county and the Sendai Framework for Risk and Recovery, these collegial and multilateral engagements are triumphs of diplomacy. For engineers and infrastructure stakeholders, it emphasizes a driver than can make other grand goals achievable. Poverty, famine, energy and food insecurity, lack of clean water or adequate sanitation, urban growth and well-being, environmental protections above and below ground can all be addressed and helped by building resilient infrastructure. Prime Minister Modi calls the “sacred promise of the SDGs is to leave no one behind.” Again, his Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure can not only be seen as reducing disasters, but its flip side is the development of quality infrastructure. The Atlas Initiative sees the paramount need to bring engineers and other infrastructure professionals and stakeholders to the decision-making table to ensure that hopes become reality in the infrastructure of the future.
