PROPOSAL FOR THE UNITED NATIONS TO DECLARE THE 21st CENTURY AS THE CENTURY OF RESTORING THE EARTH
1 Sustainable development is now recognized as an important goal by politicians, conservationists, aid workers, planners and many other people. However, for sustainable development to be achieved, the world requires, first of all, to have sustainable ecosystems, as all our human well-being and wealth ultimately derives from the ability of our planet to provide abundance - clean air, fresh water, healthy food and natural resources which can be used to make products for people's benefit.
2 At present, we do not have sustainable ecosystems in the world - everywhere forests, wetlands, savannas etc are being depleted, fragmented and destroyed.
3 To return our planet to a state of health again, the current efforts to prevent further destruction must be matched by a concerted programme of restoration, to help the Earth heal, and to ensure that there is a sustainable future for ourselves, and all our fellow species.
4 Most environmental initiatives are by necessity concentrated on 'damage limitation' - reducing the destructive impact our industrial culture has on the world, but because of this they tend to be adversarial, creating opposition and polarity amongst different people and interest groups. By contrast, restoration is an entirely positive activity which can, and often does, draw together people from different backgrounds behind the common task of doing something positive for their local area and therefore the planet.
5 Because environmental degradation is a global phenomenon which transcends cultural, political and national differences, restoration will provide an opportunity to unite all of humanity behind a shared goal - the first in our history - of helping to heal the Earth.
SOME POSSIBLE INITIATIVES TO BEGIN THE CENTURY OF RESTORING THE EARTH
6 Ten percent of each nation's military budget to be re-directed to restoration activities, either in cash or 'in kind'. Military personnel, equipment and organisational abilities to be made available for key restoration programmes. This will help to provide a new, meaningful role for the military in the next century, as true global security depends on having a healthy planet to live on!
7 Establishment of an Earth Restoration Service, enrolling people from all over the world as volunteers in essential restoration programmes.
8 Starting the new millennium with an international focus on restoration will provide a positive vision for nations and individuals to rally behind, and will help people everywhere to realize that we need to actively take care of our degraded world for our future well-being.
http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/tfl.intnl.html
"as all our human well-being and wealth ultimately derives from the ability of our planet to provide abundance" (par. 1)
In the excerpt above, the adverb ULTIMATELY means: