Directions : Read the following passage and answer the questions given below.…
2021
Directions : Read the following passage and answer the questions given below. Some words are highlighted to help you answer some of the questions.
Tropical deforestation is one of the great challenges facing humanity. If we don’t slow it down soon, the chances of avoiding disastrous climate change, species loss and the disruption of indigenous and traditional people’s cultures grow slimmer. And this rapid deceleration will be possible only if the governments, farm sectors, rural communities, businesses and civil societies of tropical forest regions devise and implement effective strategies. In the long term, the goal of taming deforestation must be embedded in public policies, programs, business transactions and culture. To put it bluntly, political leaders who embrace the goal of taming deforestation must be electable. The jurisdictional approach can help to translate unilateral corporate deforestation pledges into collaborative agreements with local governments and farm sectors, building the political case for slowing deforestation.
In a jurisdictional approach, the unit of performance is a landscape with policy-relevant boundaries – political geographies such as a state, province, district or an entire nation. This is the unit of performance that can effectively bring together multi-stakeholders on the appropriate pathway to sustainable development. In Brazil – a shining example of a successful jurisdictional approach to slow tropical deforestation – progress has been possible because political forces were pushing in the right direction. The approach was jurisdictional because success was defined as a decline in deforestation for the entire Brazilian Amazon region and for all types of land use. The Government used command-and-control measures to slow deforestation, but it also broadened its political base by paving its all-weather motorways providing access to Pacific markets. It also attracted new low-carbon industries to set up shop through innovative incentive systems.
The stage is also set to attract private financial investments into new low-carbon industries and farmer support programs as the risks associated with rampant deforestation, illegal land-use practices and labor infractions are diminished. In many ways, a political case for slowing Amazon deforestation was handed to President Lula on a silver platter. He came into office in 2003 with a mandate to deepen Brazil’s international credibility just as Amazon deforestation was skyrocketing, triggering international outrage and a diplomatic headache for the new president. It was in this favorable political context that Lula empowered his environment minister to draw on the most powerful branches of the government – including the army and central bank – to crack down on illegal deforestation and logging in the Amazon. These formal designations further weakened the land-grabbing schemes that were driving deforestation.
What role will private financial investments in innovative low carbon industries play in maintaining the ecological balance?
- A.
It aids in reducing the dangers associated with massive deforestation.
- B.
It facilitates the reduction of unlawful land-use operations.
- C.
It contributes to the reduction of international indignation.
- D.
Only (a) and (b)
- E.
Only (a) and (c)
Attempted by 1 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept
In reading comprehension, the answer to a "what role / what does X do" question must rest on the exact statement the passage makes about X. You locate the single sentence that names X (here, the role of private financial investments), list every outcome that sentence ties to X, and then select the option whose set of outcomes matches that list exactly — no fewer, no extras drawn from other parts of the passage.
Application
The passage anchors private financial investments in one sentence: “The stage is also set to attract private financial investments … as the risks associated with rampant deforestation, illegal land-use practices and labor infractions are diminished.” The outcomes that sentence directly ties to such investment are:
Diminished risk of rampant deforestation — i.e. reducing the dangers of massive deforestation.
Diminished risk of illegal land-use practices — i.e. reducing unlawful land-use operations.
Diminished risk of labor infractions — a third outcome not offered in any option pairing.
Two of the three stated outcomes correspond to the offered claims about reducing the dangers of massive deforestation and reducing unlawful land-use operations. The option pairing exactly these two claims is therefore the complete and correct answer.
Cross-check
“Reducing international indignation” belongs to a different thread of the passage: international outrage is described in the next sentence as the diplomatic pressure Lula inherited in 2003 over skyrocketing deforestation — it is never presented as an effect of private financial investments. So any pairing that includes the international-indignation claim must be rejected, and a single claim alone is incomplete because the investment sentence ties two qualifying outcomes to the investments, not one.