The United Nations has continued to retain you as a consultant for a two-part project. Many member states are dissatisfied with the progress of the eight Millennium Development Goals for international development that were established by that body in 2000. They see a substantial disconnect between what issues developed and developing countries believe are priorities. For example, Burundi wants one of the goals to focus on food security, while Austria is adamant that a major global issue should be the negotiation of ceasefires in countries in the midst of civil wars.

PART I – Initial Argument

You have been asked to identify issues you feel most impact the global environment unfavorably, so of the eight major threats listed below, choose the four that you consider the most critical.

Energy sources

Civil war

Globalization

Poor health of entire populations

Lack of educational opportunities

Cultural taboos

Inappropriate uses of technology

Climate change

Your UN contract calls for you to:

1. Develop a minimum of four slides per issue, for a minimum total of 16 slides.
2. Provide at least a paragraph on each slide in the notes section (see the example at the right) that includes a history of each issue and what type of economic, political, social or environmental threat the problem poses to populations in the developing world. To review how to configure your PowerPoint slides, please refer to your com account or reach out to your instructor ahead of time.
3. For each issue, use one of your four slides to create a graph or chart that analyzes the data you have collected.

PART II – Counterargument

Some member states are challenging your four recommendations from above and questioning why you did not include other issues they believe should be priorities. As such, there are four remaining threats in the list of major global issues that you did not include in your PowerPoint deck.

1. Choose two of these four major threats and write one solid paragraph on each one (each being at least three-quarters of a page long) explaining why they are less of a priority to the global environment than the four you selected in the first part of the assignment.

2. Each counterargument must include:

• an opening statement describing why the issue might be perceived by some as a threat;
• three reasons arguing why you did not identify each of the two issues as a threat; and
• a conclusion

3. For the entire two-part assignment, cite at least ten (10) credible sources excluding Wikipedia, dictionaries, and encyclopedias. These must be full citations using the Strayer Writing Standards (see below). 

Do not list sources by their URLs (i.e., www.______.com).

4. For a brief list of resources for this assignment, please see the end of the course guide.

This course requires use of Strayer Writing Standards (SWS) for the citation of your sources (you may no longer use APA), so please take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details. 

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• to determine how environmental pollution is depleting the Earth of its natural resources and the proposals to mitigate pollution’s most damaging consequences; and
• to identify the major threats that are most critical to the health and welfare of global communities.

Note: Grading for this assignment will be based on the quality of your answers, the logic and organization of the paper, your use of language and your writing skills.