ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the history of setting development goals in the UN and discusses the factors that contribute to, or detract from, their effectiveness as motivators and achievers of development progress. It also focuses on how the three UNs translate ideas and analysis into goals. The most protracted UN goal-setting exercise to date also got underway at an international conference. The UN has already led a highly successful campaign on climate change which exemplifies what is possible in setting goals and enforcing compliance. In the area of climate change, the UN has had notable success through the Montreal Protocol in helping diminish ozone depletion. One of the factors in the success of the Montreal Protocol was the coincidence of commercial and ecological interests: countries and their enterprises saw advantage in conversion. The different experiences of goal-setting reviewed in this chapter have helped to demonstrate how these tensions manifest themselves, and the circumstances that make goal-setting more or less effective.
