Adaptation as a process enables societies to cope with : (a) An uncertain…

Concept: In a passage-based "select the code" question, a listed statement is admitted when the passage itself attaches it to the process named in the stem — here, adaptation — and it is left out only when that attachment is absent or contradicted. This passage defines adaptation on two sides: what societies are made better able to face, and the adjustments through which they face it. A code is judged against the whole of that account, not against a single sentence of it.

Applying the rule to what the passage says about adaptation:

1. "Adaptation is a process through which societies make themselves better able to cope with an uncertain future." An uncertain future is attached to adaptation directly, and inside the passage’s own coping clause.

2. "Adapting to climate change entails taking the right measures to reduce the negative effects of climate change (or exploit the positive ones) by making the appropriate adjustments and changes." One sentence attaches three more of the listed statements: the negative impact of climate change, the positive impact of climate change, and the adjustments and changes.

3. "Adapting to climate change will entail adjustments and changes at every level from community to national and international." The adjustments-and-changes statement is restated as part of what adaptation consists of, so it is not a passing phrase in the earlier sentence.

4. Note the difference in role, because it is what the item turns on. An uncertain future and the two impacts of climate change are things a society faces; adjustments and changes are how it faces them. The passage keeps that item inside its account of adaptation without ever calling it something coped with.

5. All four listed statements are therefore present in the passage’s account of adaptation, and the code that retains all four is the one the official key for this paper records.

Cross-check: Test each narrower code against the text. Dropping the positive impact ignores the passage’s own parenthesis "or exploit the positive ones"; dropping adjustments and changes ignores a link the passage makes twice and treats as definitional; and keeping only the negative impact ignores the sentence that defines adaptation in terms of an uncertain future. Every narrower code discards wording the passage itself supplies.

One caveat, stated plainly. On a strict reading of "cope with", only an uncertain future and the impacts of climate change are things a society copes with, while adjustments and changes are the means by which it copes; on that reading a narrower code is arguable. The passage does not settle the point by itself. What settles it is that all four statements sit inside the passage’s account of adaptation and the official answer key for this paper retains all four — so the strict reading is an objection to the item’s wording, not a different keyed answer.

The code to select is therefore the one that retains all four statements: (a), (b), (c) and (d).