Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SH, UK.
Global Health. 2018 Apr 13;14(1):34. doi: 10.1186/s12992-018-0353-x.
'Wicked' is the term used to describe some of the most challenging and complex issues of our time, many of which threaten human health. Climate change, biodiversity loss, persisting poverty, the advancing obesity epidemic, and food insecurity are all examples of such wicked problems. However there is a strong body of evidence describing the solutions for addressing many of these problems. Given that much is known about how many of these problems could be addressed - and given the risks of not acting - what will it take to create the 'tipping point' needed for effective action?
A recent (2015) court ruling in The Hague held that the Dutch government's stance on climate change was illegal, ordering them to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25% within 5 years (by 2020), relative to 1990 levels. The case was filed on behalf of 886 Dutch citizens, suing the government for violating human rights and climate changes treaties by failing to take adequate action to prevent the harmful impacts of climate change. This judicial ruling has the potential to provide a way forward, inspiring other civil movements and creating a template from which to address other wicked problems.
This judicial strategy to address the need to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the Netherlands is not a magic bullet, and requires a particular legal and institutional setting. However it has the potential to be a game-changer - providing an example of a strategy for achieving domestic regulatory change that is likely to be replicable in some countries elsewhere, and providing an example of a particularly 'wicked' (in the positive, street-slang sense of the word) strategy to address seemingly intractable and wicked problems.
“棘手的”一词用于描述当今时代一些最具挑战性和复杂性的问题，其中许多问题威胁着人类健康。气候变化、生物多样性丧失、持续存在的贫困、肥胖症的蔓延以及粮食不安全都是此类棘手问题的例子。然而，有大量证据表明可以解决许多此类问题。鉴于人们已经了解了许多可以解决这些问题的方法——并且鉴于不采取行动的风险——那么需要采取什么措施才能创造出有效行动所需的“临界点”？
最近（2015 年）在海牙的一项法院裁决认为，荷兰政府在气候变化问题上的立场是非法的，命令他们在 5 年内（到 2020 年）将温室气体排放量相对于 1990 年的水平减少至少 25%。此案是由 886 名荷兰公民代表提起的，他们以政府未能采取充分行动防止气候变化的有害影响为由，起诉政府侵犯了人权和气候变化条约。这一司法裁决有可能为前进提供一种途径，激励其他民间运动，并为解决其他棘手问题提供一个模板。
这种在荷兰解决降低温室气体排放的必要性的司法策略并非万无一失，需要特定的法律和体制环境。然而，它有可能改变游戏规则——为实现国内监管变革提供了一种策略范例，这种策略可能在其他一些国家具有可复制性，并为解决看似棘手和棘手的问题提供了一种特别“棘手”（在积极的、街头俚语意义上）的策略范例。
