United Nations consider certain fundamental values to be essential to international relations in the twenty-first century. What these include:

The Millennium Declaration—which outlines 60 goals for peace; development; the environment; human rights; the vulnerable, hungry, and poor; Africa; and the United Nations—is founded on a core set of values described.

 The Millennium Declaration was adopted by the UN General Assembly, but the origins of the declaration’s set of fundamental values are unclear. In contrast, the origins of the Earth Charter Initiative—which defines the Earth Charter as a “declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century”26—is well documented. The initiative answers the call of the World Commission on Environment and Development for creation of “a universal declaration” that would “consolidate and extend relevant legal principles,” create “new norms . . . needed to maintain livelihoods and life on our shared planet,” and “ guide state behavior in the transition to sustainable development. Thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations from all regions of the world, different cultures, and diverse sectors of society . . . participated.”