I participated in the Paris Peace Forum on 12-14 November 2019. This was the second year that I contributed to this event organized by the French President to stimulate new thinking and encourage initiatives for peace. Last year, through the Global Challenges Foundation, we presented our prize-winning proposals for global governance and the reform of the United Nations system. This year I was invited to take part in a Peace Game simulated negotiation to respond to a climate disaster in the Nile basin in 2030. I was also invited by the Global Governance Philanthropy Network to present a proposal for a Climate Risk Governance Commission that my friend and co-author Maja Groff has been developing.

While I was in Paris, the Bahá'í Community of France had organized a beautiful exposition for the bicentenary of the Birth of the Bâb, so the evening of 13 November I was asked to speak to an audience of about 30 at the exposition on the topic "Spirituality and the Sustainable Development Goals". The gallery where the exposition was held was just across the street from what had been the art studio of early Baha'i Edwin Scott, where 'Abdu'l-Bahá had spoken during his visit to Paris, and where my mother had attended Baha'i meetings in 1930 before becoming a Bahá'í.

Paris Peace Forum

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Grand Hall de la Villette; exhibit stands

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There were many simultaneous events and presentations

Baha'i Exposition for the Bicentenary

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Wall panels and exposition cases

Some of the writings of the Bâb

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Books were included in the exposition; the meeting room where my talk was held