Integrating resilience into infrastructure – a wicked problem

Dr Shehnaaz Moosa of CDKN Africa describes the integration of resilience into infrastructure as a "wicked problem" and argues that climate change provides an incentive for governments to implement overdue infrastructure policies and practices.

• The integration of resilience into infrastructure within an uncertain future is characterized as a "wicked problem," suggesting that existing modes of thinking are insufficient to solve it.
• Global progress on sustainability and climate change includes the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets for 2030, an agreement by 196 countries to limit climate change to 2 degrees (with a 1.5-degree ambition), and the 2015 Sendai Framework adopted in Japan to integrate disaster risk reduction with sustainable development.
• Weather-related disasters represent approximately 80% of global disasters, with the most severe infrastructure impacts occurring in low-income countries.
• Climate resilience for poor communities requires a dual approach: small-scale infrastructure for short-term disaster response and large-scale infrastructure for long-term resilience to climate change and variability.
• CDKN and the Global Water Partnership (GWP) have spent five years moving from policy frameworks to project implementation, beginning with the African Ministers’ Council on Water Framework for Water Security and progressing through capacity building to the mainstreaming of climate into infrastructure design.

APA

Moosa, S. (n.d.). Integrating resilience into infrastructure – a wicked problem. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/story/opinion-integrating-resilience-infrastructure-wicked-problem

Chicago

Moosa, Shehnaaz. Integrating resilience into infrastructure – a wicked problem. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, n.d. https://cdkn.org/story/opinion-integrating-resilience-infrastructure-wicked-problem.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Moosa |first1=Shehnaaz |title=Integrating resilience into infrastructure – a wicked problem |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |url=https://cdkn.org/story/opinion-integrating-resilience-infrastructure-wicked-problem |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{moosandintegrating, author = {Moosa, Shehnaaz}, title = {{Integrating resilience into infrastructure – a wicked problem}}, publisher = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, url = {https://cdkn.org/story/opinion-integrating-resilience-infrastructure-wicked-problem}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }