The Futures Project began with a thorough scoping of the issues of concern to the interested public (Wear, Greis and Walters 2008). The public participation process yielded a large complement of issues to be considered in the conduct of the Futures Project. Among these were nine overarching issues that warrant thorough study. We've labeled these "Meta-Issues."

The Meta-Issues are described in the following pages. In addition to an overarching question, the Meta-Issue is defined by a set of specific issues that need to be addressed in terms of their broad regional implications. We also define a set of issues that are especially important within specific subregion of the South. Each Meta-Issue will be addressed by an analyst or a team of analysts. Implications for each Subregion will be drawn out by the Subregional analysis teams working with the meta-issue teams.