Here's why this United Nations conference will be held in Utah instead of New York for the first time ever

Youth will play a major role in August's 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference, Alison Smale, UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications. "This generation has so much to offer to help determine concrete actions to make communities more inclusive and sustainable. This is a society that is on the move, clearly a place with lots of young people, where there is a lot of opportunity and education is an important aspect of life." 

A U.N. climate report released Thursday said the last 4 years were the warmest on record and 62 million people were impacted by extreme weather in 2018. Climate change, resource use and emerging technology are among the themes that will be addressed at this year's conference, centered on UN sustainable development goal No. 11, "making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable."