Development initiatives in the early years of the UN were focused on supporting countries recovering

from World War II. As the United Nations increased its membership in the 1960s and 1970s,
industrial and infrastructural development, as well as economic growth and advantageous trade
circumstances for developing nations, were viewed as critical answers to pulling people out of
poverty. The International Development Strategy stated that a significant portion of financial
resource transfers to poor countries should be in the form of official development aid and that rich
nations should provide such assistance at a minimum of 0.7% of their GDP. The Conference on
Human Environment (1972) added new dimensions to the nation's growth by establishing conserving
and enhancing the natural environment as a solemn and specific duty of humanity. Environmental
resources "must be safeguarded for the benefit of present and future generations", at the same time
"the environmental policies of all States should enhance and adversely affect the present or future
development potential and developing countries".
A charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States was adopted in 1974. The change from an almost
exclusive focus on economic development to a more people-centered agenda can be seen in the
rise of conferences focused on population (1974), women (1975), and human settlements (1976).
The International Conference on the Relationship between Disarmament and Development (1987) is
an example of how the Organization has grappled with cross-cutting issues.
In terms of knowledge building, the launch of the first Human Development Report (1990) was
dominated by UNDP Human Development indexes (a mix of GDP, life expectancy, and access to
education), the adoption of the Millennium Declaration (2000), and the related efforts to set goals
and measurable targets for the MDGs marked a shift towards the integration of social development
and addressing human needs (health and nutrition, education, and poverty eradication).
As the United Nations delves deeper into the work of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, the SDGs have emerged as the new framework for development work. Including
environmental issues, such as climate change, on the global development agenda is the culmination
of many years of UN predecessors' efforts to enhance the living circumstances of people all over the
globe. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is the United Nations' most ambitious and
comprehensive document since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was constructed on
the experience gained over decades of thinking and working on development concerns, and it has
been changed not just to the needs it has addressed, but also to prevalent economic views
throughout history.
Development promotion was part of the original UN mission and is one of the three pillars of the UN
Secretary-General's proposed changes. The 2030 Agenda is the road map for development policies and
initiatives, but in order for it to be implemented successfully, structural challenges in governance,
efficacy, and solvency, as well as increasing the legitimacy of the international system, must be
addressed.