Grace Initiative Global hosting World Humanitarian Day forum

STRATTON — In honor of World Humanitarian Day, Grace Initiative Global is hosting a forum today and Saturday featuring United Nations, government and non-profit leaders in discussions on issues facing the world in the face of climate change, violent conflict and hunger.

A dinner and keynote address is scheduled for tonight at Stratton Mountain School. The keynote address will be given by Atul Khare of India, the U.N. undersecretary-general for field support.

Follow-up panels on Saturday will include discussions on issues including human rights, climate change, refugee resettlement and hunger.

Grace Initiative Global, founded and led by former U.N. official Yvonne Lodico of Dorset, is partnering with a non-government organization to resettle Afghan refugees in the Northshire.

“Humanitarian approaches and commitments require holistic programming given the impact of environmental challenges, the changing nature of violent conflict, and the recognition of an increasingly complex and interdependent world, to address the further challenges of poverty alleviation and reduced food insecurity,” the organization said in an announcement.

“This involves integrating humanitarian programming with peacebuilding and conflict sensitivity, as well as sustainable development for local systems and averting the worst effects of crises,” the announcement said. “In our World Humanitarian Day discussion, we will consider the requirements for holistic and integrated planning for humanitarian delivery and the complex environments humanitarians confront.”

A panel following on Friday night will include Karlito Nunes, the Timor-Leste ambassador to the United Nations; Ruven Menikdiwela, director of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; Diego Osario, senior policy advisor on climate security for Global Affairs Canada, and the Rev. Canon Walter Brownridge of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont.

A second panel discussion on human rights, addressing humanitarian crises and pathways for peace will be held at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Southern Vermont Arts Center. It will include Asad Sadiq, of the Yemen non-government organization Water for Peace, Liz Ruffa of Northshire Grows and Merck Forest and Farmland, and state Rep. Kathleen James.

A working lunch discussion on food security, land sustainability and climate will be held at Hildene, the Lincoln Family Home. It will include state Rep. Seth Bongartz, Abraham Joseph of Development Goals Global Watch; and Vivian Valencia, assistant professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.