Sustainable development offers policymakers an obvious tool with which to confront the region's huge environmental challenges – which differ from those of other countries only in terms of scale.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez loomed so large over his country and Latin America for the last two decades that his death on Tuesday following a long battle with cancer confronts the region with potentially destabilizing political swings and economic setbacks.
President Obama and Arab leaders on Thursday agreed to several tactical steps toward strengthening Middle East security but stopped short of a bold new agreement to confront the region's chaos.
One of the major problems confronting this region, and the Osona district in particular, is the nitrate pollution of aquifers as a consequence of the excessive dumping of purines.
As for the possible alternatives to the regime, this is another problem confronting the main players in the region.
And of course, the region is confronting the devastating rise of ISIS, extremism, and sectarian and ethnic tensions.
Besides that, local materials are ideal in confronting the climatic challenges of the region: Clay keeps the heat out of the building and stabilizes the temperature inside, which is "better than artificial climatization," Kéré says.
But this year, the event, with 30,000 participants, offers collective healing for the runners, as well as for a city and a region confronting the lingering horror of terrorism.
More to the point for California, McCain supports the Golden State's right to impose stricter emissions controls on vehicles - a move recently struck down by the Bush administration - to the fury of Schwarzenegger - and he's open about the economic challenges confronting the country, especially in regions like California, where the housing bubble has burst with a particularly loud bang.
