Longtime UN worker to speak at today’s SACPA

To make life better for future generations, governments working with the United Nations drew up 17 “sustainable development goals.”

That was completed five years ago, in anticipation of meeting those goals by 2030. Representatives of a number of nations agreed the world was becoming over-populated, accelerating consumption of non-renewable resources and destroying the environment.

So how are we doing? Longtime United Nations worker Trevor Page will outline progress — or lack thereof — at today’s session of the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs.

Today, with many nations facing climate change, hunger and unwanted migration, can any of those goals be achieved?

Now, Page points out, uncontrolled migration is leading to a tragic end for so many refugees.

While most of his 31 years with the UN were spent with its

World Food Program in Africa and Asia, Page also took on a number of special assignments including roles as “head of mission” in several nations including India and China. He also headed UN operations in Eritrea at the end of its 30-year war with Ethiopia, and in Uganda and Congo during the Rwanda crisis.

Doors for the noon-hour session, open to all interested, will open at 11:30 a.m. in the Royal Canadian Legion hall. Those attending may opt for a $14 hot lunch or a $2 hot beverage service.