From idea to impact: sustainable decision-making in development corridors

Development corridors are extensive geographical areas, often crossing borders, targeted for public and private investment to catalyse economic growth, with broader objectives of achieving national development visions. Corridors often include the development of infrastructure such as roads, railways, ports, dams, pipelines, and internet cables, planned alongside broader interventions designed to create an enabling environment for private enterprise within a specific geographic area. Their implementation cuts across the purview of several national government sectors, and they have the potential to transform the economic and social life of large regions. However, if unplanned and executed poorly, these benefits may not materialise, and a whole host of new problems could be introduced, such as loss of livelihoods, widened inequalities, increased land conflict, and insecurity, worsening health and human wellbeing, irreversible damage to natural ecosystems and carbon storage, and increased vulnerability to climate change.

This course has been developed to give an overview of key risks that emerge around development corridors, and how they can be avoided. Additionally, it emphasizes the opportunities that well planned, sustainable development corridors create.