1: Ideology to Implementation: Introduction to Field Stories of Sustainable Development Goal 3

For us, as editors who have never met in person, living scattered lives across the globe, yet connected by commonalities such as the need for fresh air, clean water, healthy food, opportunities for wellbeing, and nature, a collective aim of this volume has been to gather field stories that tell of global connections with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: Ensure Healthy Lives and Promote Wellbeing to All for All Ages.

In their assessment of the SDGs, scholars (Griggs et al., 2014; Hulme, 2015; Morton, Pencheon & Squires, 2017) have noted a marked difference between SDGs and the prior Millennial Development Goals (MDGs), insofar as SDGs broaden the concept of sustainable development (SD) to include the more-than-human of this earth. There are ample examples of unsustainable stress being placed on many planetary systems by human activity, and more emerge daily. In describing the concept of planetary boundaries, Sachs (2012) wrote, ‘human activity is pushing crucial global ecosystem functions past a dangerous threshold, beyond which the earth might well encounter abrupt, highly non-linear, and potentially devastating outcomes for human wellbeing and life generally’ (p. 2207).