This handbook aims to provide a critical and constructive overview of the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals programme and highlights why achieving them by 2030 does not currently appear to be a realistic goal.

The handbook analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the SDG programme. It explores the root causes of the current lack of progress towards the goals and their targets, as well as the successes achieved with respect to specific SDGs. Coming from multidisciplinary backgrounds, the contributors to this handbook reflect on some of the transformative approaches that are needed to enhance the efficacy of the SDGs and what kinds of revisions to the goals or extensions of the agenda might be effective. Examples of best practice in the pursuit of some SDGs are presented to illustrate those directions. Based around the notion of human security, the handbook advocates for a fresh approach to scientific epistemology and governance in order to achieve social and ecological wellbeing for all in the generations to come.

Alexander K. Lautensach is adjunct professor in the School of Education at the University of Northern British Columbia, Canada. His publications cover environmental ethics and human ecology, human security in the areas of health and environmental support structures, science education and creative pedagogy, teaching and learning for sustainability, and cultural safety.