Strategies for sustainable development are relatively recent phenomena, but they rest on a complex set of developments that have evolved over the past four decades. Development plans have been promoted by the World Bank and various international aid agencies. In 1960, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), launched the decade of development and greatly promoted the idea of national development plans. The 1972 Stockholm Conference signalled both worldwide conflict and consensus over the impact of the then standard models of economic development. Programming and international assistance for national economic development remain major activities in the world today. Strategies for sustainable development thus reflect the growing recognition that we need a new kind of development which promotes the wellbeing of both people and the environment. The strategies also reflect the recognition that achieving such wellbeing will require linking population, development, and the environment in integrated strategies for action.