> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.therisk.global/organization/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.therisk.global/organization/model/sectors/infrastructure.md). # Infrastructure Infrastructure in the Nexus model: the built networks that carry water, energy, food and care, how they fail together, and the teaching contexts in which they are hit first. **Where this fits:** infrastructure (I) and the sectors it couples to · Foundry, Nexus Standards and Nexus Reports · GCRI (evidence and methods) · Planning and readiness preparation · model page. **In brief.** Infrastructure is the built fabric that carries the other sectors: pipes, dams and treatment works for water (0.6), transmission and fuel logistics for energy (0.6), transport to market for food (0.5) and access to care for health (0.5). It depends most on energy, through power for transport and telecoms (0.8). Infrastructure is hit first in an urban flood and in a coastal storm surge, where its stress after four rounds of the teaching cascade reaches 0.83 and 0.79. All strengths on this page are **teaching values for a typical city-region, not measurements for any place**. ## What the sector carries Infrastructure is where the costs of coupled risk are counted. The World Bank estimates that disruption to infrastructure costs households and firms in low- and middle-income countries at least $390 billion a year, and that more resilient infrastructure returns about $4 for each $1 invested (Hallegatte, Rentschler and Rozenberg, [2019](https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/31805)). Infrastructure resilience has therefore moved from protecting single assets to the resilience of whole systems, shared between governments and operators (OECD, [2019](https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/good-governance-for-critical-infrastructure-resilience_02f0e5a0-en.html)). ## What infrastructure gives Read from infrastructure to the sector it supports, strongest first. | To | Strength | Through | | ----------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | ------------------------------- | | [Water](/organization/model/sectors/water.md) | 0.6 | pipes, dams and treatment works | | [Energy](/organization/model/sectors/energy.md) | 0.6 | transmission and fuel logistics | | [Food](/organization/model/sectors/food.md) | 0.5 | transport to market | | [Health](/organization/model/sectors/health.md) | 0.5 | access to care | | [Biodiversity](/organization/model/sectors/biodiversity.md) | 0.2 | coastal and river defences | ## What infrastructure depends on Read from the sector it depends on, strongest first. | From | Strength | Through | | ----------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | -------------------------------- | | [Energy](/organization/model/sectors/energy.md) | 0.8 | power for transport and telecoms | | [Water](/organization/model/sectors/water.md) | 0.3 | erosion and flood damage | | [Health](/organization/model/sectors/health.md) | 0.3 | workforce for operations | | [Biodiversity](/organization/model/sectors/biodiversity.md) | 0.2 | storm surge protection | | [Food](/organization/model/sectors/food.md) | 0.1 | rural roads and storage | ## Teaching contexts The contexts in which infrastructure is in play, whether hit first or reached through the coupling, with its stress after four rounds of the teaching cascade. | Context | Role of this sector | Stress after four rounds | How the sectors fail together | | ------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------- | ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | [Urban flood](/organization/model/scenarios/urban-flood.md) | Hit first | 0.83 | Flooded streets take out substations, pumping stations and clinic access together; drinking water fails when power does. | | [Hydropower reservoir](/organization/model/scenarios/hydropower.md) | Reached through the coupling | 0.13 | A dam stores water for power and flood control, and reshapes the river's sediment, fish passage and wetlands downstream. | | [Grid blackout](/organization/model/scenarios/blackout.md) | Reached through the coupling | 0.25 | Without power, water treatment, telecoms, cold chains and hospitals fall back on fuel that runs out. | | [Pandemic](/organization/model/scenarios/pandemic.md) | Reached through the coupling | 0.09 | Workforce absence ripples from clinics into grid operations, logistics and farm labour. | | [Coastal storm surge](/organization/model/scenarios/storm-surge.md) | Hit first | 0.79 | Mangroves and dunes absorb the surge; where they are gone, ports, substations and water intakes take it. | ## Observing the sector [**Nexus of Observatories**](/organization/systems.md)**.** Every Nexus platform and system includes its own observatory capability, covering remote sensing, in-situ instruments and edge deployments. Across every area where these observatories are implemented, they form the Nexus of Observatories, part of the not-for-profit programme architecture. The GCRI site describes the capability on its [Observatory](https://therisk.global/ecosystem/observatory/) page. What the observatories record about infrastructure, and under what terms, is set for each country in its National Model and its profile scope agreement. Records follow the [Nexus Standards](/organization/institutions/nexus-standards.md) published on [nexustandards.com](https://nexustandards.com/standards/), whose text and status govern. ## International frameworks | Framework | What it governs or shows | Source | | ---------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Lifelines (World Bank) | Costs of infrastructure disruption and the return on resilient infrastructure | [2019](https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/31805) | | OECD, critical infrastructure resilience | Policy toolkit for the governance of critical infrastructure resilience | [2019](https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/good-governance-for-critical-infrastructure-resilience_02f0e5a0-en.html) | | OECD, governance of critical risks | All-hazards, transboundary approach to country risk governance | [2014](https://legalinstruments.oecd.org/en/instruments/OECD-LEGAL-0405) | | ISO 37123 | Indicators for resilient cities | [2019](https://www.iso.org/standard/70428.html) | | Sendai Framework | Target (d): reduce damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services | [2015](https://www.undrr.org/publication/sendai-framework-disaster-risk-reduction-2015-2030) | ## Deeper reading in this documentation [Infrastructure (Nexus Ecosystem)](/organization/standardization/nexus-ecosystem/iii.-infrastructure.md) · [Risk convergence (thesis)](/organization/organization/architecture/i.-thesis/ii.-risk-convergence.md) ## Sources * ISO (2019). ISO 37123:2019 Sustainable cities and communities — Indicators for resilient cities. Geneva: ISO. * Hallegatte, S., Rentschler, J. and Rozenberg, J. (2019). Lifelines: The Resilient Infrastructure Opportunity. Sustainable Infrastructure Series. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-1430-3. * OECD (2019). Good Governance for Critical Infrastructure Resilience. OECD Reviews of Risk Management Policies. Paris: OECD Publishing. doi:10.1787/02f0e5a0-en. * OECD (2014). Recommendation of the Council on the Governance of Critical Risks. OECD/LEGAL/0405, adopted 6 May 2014. * UN General Assembly (2015). Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030. A/RES/69/283, 3 June 2015. * The model data: the "Coupled risk, applied response" section of the [GCRI home page](https://therisk.global/). --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. 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