These goals address needs to preserve the climate and atmosphere, preserve biological diversity, reduce waste, use water wisely, and stabilize human populations. They provide a basis for the design of specific actions, as well as a means of measuring progress. The Agenda itself also serves as a vehicle for alignment among environmental groups. The goals are large ones - reflecting the scale of global environmental problems. No doubt some will argue that they are too ambitious, others that they do not go far enough.
GAP welcomes that debate and encourages that the goals be adapted to local needs.
At the same time, we must begin taking action now. If we wait for full consensus on the goals, the continuing damage to global ecosystems will likely be irreversible. Because while the goals may seem beyond the reach of individuals, they can only be met by empowering collective, individual actions. Such positive, direct action has proven effective in meeting global goals in the past. Citizen Diplomacy, for example, empowered people to take individual actions outside their governments that successfully transformed relationships between the Soviet and American people, which contributed to a transformed relationship between their countries.