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Pop pyramids

Really excellent description of pop pyramids:

http://www.slideshare.net/lntrullin/understanding-population-pyramids

Model UN

For each of the issues at hand, write 2-3 paragraphs on your country's stance on the issue, with particular focus on specific reasons that your country does or does not support it. Each issue has its own links, and generic links for your country can be found below:

http://www.everyculture.com/wc/

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

Aral Sea & Water Resources

The issue: Soviet engineers diverted the flow of the rivers that feed the Aral Sea in the early 20^th century. Now, the sea is down to 90% its former levels: an environmental catastrophe. The issue at hand: how much control should each country have over the water that passes through it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aral_Sea#Shrinkage

http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2010/world/international-cooperation-needed-to-save-aral-sea-un-secretary-general/

http://www.globalpolicy.org/the-dark-side-of-natural-resources/water-in-conflict.html

Peak Oil

Oil is a limited resource. According to some OPEC nations, their ability to produce oil at current levels will end in 2014, after which oil production will diminish and prices will go nowhere but up. Less developed nations, however, have limited ability to transition to clean energy resources, but developed nations can, though their economy might take a hit in the process. The issue at hand: Should MDC’s bear the brunt of transitioning the world towards renewable energy?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35838273/ns/business-oil_and_energy/

http://allafrica.com/stories/201003290360.html

http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=368012&Itemid=34

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security-council/dark-side-of-natural-resources/oil-and-natural-gas-in-conflict.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/05/02/peak-oil-is-here-now-what/

Food Crisis

LDCs like Niger starve while MDCs like the United States struggle with an obese population. While MDCs produce food in cheap, mass quantities, citizens of LDCs are pushed to grow food for MDC markets and profit, rather than their own country, often on land owned by multinational corporations. Farmers in poorer nations are migrating to cities, where food riots are common and increasingly destabilizing to the local governments. In addition, the looming threat of climate change could cause major shifts in regional food production. The issue at hand:  Should MDC funding be pushed to supply stakeholders (local farmers and landowners) with funding to invest in new crops and technologies, or should the current funding by MDC’s continue to flow through the multinational corporations (Monsanto, Macdonalds, conAgra, etc) in a for-profit model. 

http://www.globalpolicy.org/world-hunger.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/07/AR2010040702840.html

http://allafrica.com/stories/201003290360.html 

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/20-signs-that-a-horrific-global-food-crisis-is-coming

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17539768

Global cultural preservation in the face of global trade.

There are significant cultural costs to the globalization of the world's economy. Multinational corporations are creating uniform landscapes in cultural centers of ancient cities. 6 corporations control production of many of the world's consumer products. There's no way for many local food sellers and retailers to compete with the influx of western stores and merchandise. The television and internet are spreading popular culture around there globe. Yet many countries, particularly LDCs, rely on their own folk cultural exports and tourism for income. The issue at hand: Should a country be able to ban the import of products and services it deems threatening to the economic livelihood of their cultural trades, though this would violate free trade and WTO agreements?

http://globalpolicy.org/globalization/globalization-of-the-economy-2-1/trade-agreements-2-4.html

http://globalpolicy.org/globalization/globalization-of-culture.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/business/22scene.html

http://www.globalenvision.org/library/33/775