In November, 2014 an international group gathered in Hawaii at the conference “Next Giant Leap: Leveraging Lunar Assets for Sustainable Pathways to Space” issue the International Lunar Decade (ILD) Declaration. The central premises of ILD are:
1. The inspiration for ILD is the International Geophysical Year 1957-8 that marked the first global effort to understand the Earth. ILD is proposed as framework for international cooperation towards permanent presence of humankind on the Moon and beyond. Initially proposed by COSPAR to start on the 50th anniversary of IGY in 2007, global conditions were not favorable. Now, with many countries planning missions to the Moon the decade of 2020-2030 would be appropriate to work towards the strategic goal of making possible permanent presence on the Moon.
2. Economic use of lunar resources is a precondition for sustainable research and commercial activities on the Moon. There is speculation about lunar water and asteroid resources, but no business case for use of space resources has so far been offered. Markets for space resources do not exist. Technologies to mine and process space resources need to be developed. Even the legal right to use space resources within existing space law is uncertain.

Recent developments suggest that a business case for lunar resources can emerge over the next few years. Lunar regolith includes significant basalt content from which basalt fibre could potentially be produced by melting regolith at about 1500℃ with concentrated solar energy. Uses could include thermal barrier shields as well as impact shielding for spacecraft and structural and body parts of spacecraft and rovers and haulers on the lunar or Martian surface thereby generating major savings in lunar and planetary exploration. Space Solar Power is another development where technical designs promise electrical costs competitive with other alternatives with zero CO2 emissions. An early application with commercial potential could be a Lunar Power Utility that could lower costs and speed up lunar development. Lunar water is another promising resource. Low cost launch from the lunar surface is key to realizing the economic potential of lunar resources. Additionally, the issue of rights to use lunar resources, particularly as commercial products, remains to be addressed.