Utah Valley University announced last week that it will partner with the United Nations to host the Why It Matters Conference on sustainability.

The conference will take place this Wednesday through Friday and will bring together experts and leaders from around the world to UVU’s Orem campus — including the director of UNICEF, the head of the International Red Cross and the U.N.’s chief of education outreach — to discuss some of the world’s most pressing current issues.

Topics for the Why It Matters Conference will center on the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which include poverty, hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace, justice and strong institutions, and partnerships for the goals.

“These 17 areas of focus are not only manifest in countries overseas, but right here at home,” Baldomero Lago, UVU’s chief international officer and conference director, said in a press release. “People are suffering. That is why this conference matters. To be effective, everyone needs to help find solutions to these problems.”

On Thursday, conference attendees will have the opportunity to assemble 2,000 newborn kits for refugee mothers in a humanitarian project sponsored by JustServe, a community service program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Presentations will include a panel entitled “21st Century Refugees” where six college-age students who immigrated to Utah from Afghanistan, Somalia, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ukraine will speak, as well as a sustainable fashion show featuring designers from Europe and South America.

“The conference will include 13 thematic sessions with 52 speakers, a large-scale service project, a fashion show on ‘sustainable fashion’ with important designers from five different countries, over 100 scholarly presentations, eight side events, and several youth global network activities,” Lago said in the release. “Participants should better understand the 2030 Global Agenda, adopted in 2015 under the approval of all the 193 member states of the U.N. The goals are designed to be a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people on our planet now and into the future.”

The Why It Matters Conference will begin at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in the Sorenson Student Center and is open to the public. For more information or to register for the conference, visit https://www.uvu.edu/global/wim22/index.html.

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