Photo: Glacier Media

Students, residents and local communities are being invited to a three-day conference on sustainability and resilience at Thompson Rivers University.

In a written news release, TRU said the Livable Cities, Collaborative Communities Sustainability Conference in February will bring together stakeholders, including Indigenous knowledge keepers, local residents, non-governmental organizations, students and researchers.

According to the university, keynote speakers will lead discussions on the challenges faced by cities, such as climate change.

Speakers will include BC Research Chair, Thompson Rivers University professor and renowned wildfire expert Mike Flannigan, leader of The Mother Tree Project and professor in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences at UBC, Suzanne Simard, and author Seth Klein, director of the Climate Emergency Unit.

“A key goal of Livable Cities, Collaborative Communities, is to improve and develop local connections between individuals, groups and institutions — including TRU and the city — who are actively working on sustainability and resilience issues,” said Douglas Booth, dean of the faculty of adventure, culinary arts and tourism, and chair of the conference steering committee.

TRU said the conference will also examine the progress of the 17 sustainable development goals adopted by 193 countries of the United Nations General Assembly in 2015.

Discussions will centre around the call to action to achieve a more sustainable future by 2030, the university said.

The Livable Cities, Collaborative Communities Sustainability Conference will run from Feb. 22 to Feb. 24 at TRU's Campus Activity Centre.

The conference will be the first of three over the next three years, with follow-up conferences planned to take place 2025 and 2026.