Alexander Belyakov (ELP 2001) | Consultant to UN Agencies, Ukraine (in Canada)

The COVID-19 virus and its variants caused an unprecedented crisis in many areas of our daily life (like health, food security and many others). Responding to these challenges, the UN called on countries to seize the opportunity to "build back better."

Substantial market fluctuations affected the food supply chain. The importance of supply chain resilience, risk management, and business continuity in response to unpredictable changes was known before the pandemic. Experts predicted that if supply management was not fundamentally changed in Canada, it could see half of its current dairy farms disappear by 2030.

Food security became an even more important issue. 32% of Ontarians mentioned that supply management needs attention (Dalhousie University's survey). 17.4% of Canadians believe the Canadian food supply chain will not provide enough food for everyone at some point. People have been stockpiling resources, and many are hoarding food and related goods because of anxiety about food security due to socioeconomic pressures generated by the pandemic. These situations have contributed to an even larger increase in prices.

The Survey in Ontario titled, "Food Access, Concerns and Perceptions during the COVID-19 First Wave" showed that three-quarters of respondents expressed moderate to high concern with the reliability of food supply, 92 percent reported moderate to high belief that local/regional systems could be more reliable, and 96 percent expressed moderate to high desire to see the Ontario province better supporting local food systems.

There were known cases of increased demand for some food items during the early pandemic (including flour, for example) and the food sector's inability to meet it. According to Dairy Farmers of Ontario, another example of disturbances in the supply chain were the unpredictable market fluctuations within the dairy supply chain. 

Many businesses were unable to adjust quickly to emergencies. At the same time, those who did, profited. Some restaurant suppliers pivoted to grocery. Sysco@Home changed its supply chain and business models to deliver smaller size food items to customers' homes and apartments. 

Supermarket chains were slow to organize home deliveries because they lacked storage facilities close to the areas where their customers live. The food retailer Sobey launched its Voilà online grocery delivery platform in Vaughan, Ontario. The location choice was based on cooperation with Stellarton, a grocer from Nova Scotia. It built an Ocado-powered automated warehouse. Later, Voilà expanded across the Greater Toronto Area.

These examples show that the trend to "build back better" is successful when proper attention is also paid to the role of infrastructure. In this context, I would like to share information about one of the projects I am currently working on as a consultant with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Its new publication, Managing Infrastructure Assets for Sustainable Development, says sound infrastructure—and the systems that support it—are needed to achieve 92 percent of the Sustainable Development Goals. The UN is calling on countries to vastly overhaul the way governments build and maintain infrastructure—everything from food, water, and sanitation systems to energy grids to transportation facilities—in order to reduce waste and costs, improve the delivery of essential public services, and ensure a sustainable future for all.

This handbook for governments at the national and local levels says that the actual construction or acquisition cost of an infrastructure asset only accounts for 15-30 percent of overall expenditures, compared with the 70-85 percent of the costs of an asset that is incurred after it is bought or built. With a trendy focus on projects that are 'new and shiny', old assets are often neglected. Underinvestment in infrastructure maintenance costs some developing countries up to 2 percent growth in GDP.

Taking concrete steps to enhance the resilience of these key public goods can reap substantial social and economic benefits. Shirking responsibility of ensuring the sustainability of infrastructure assets puts the communities they serve at risk.

The UN says the lack of proper infrastructure planning is costly and hurts COVID-19 recovery. The handbook extends both practical knowledge and key messages to those seeking to lay the groundwork for more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable development through improved infrastructure asset management.

The full publication in English, French, Spanish and Swahili is now available for download here: bit.ly/InfraHandbook Coming soon in Arabic, Bangla, Chinese, Nepali, Russian, and Serbian.