Given below are the factors of vulnerability of poor people to climate change.…
2017
Given below are the factors of vulnerability of poor people to climate change. Select the code that contains the correct answer.
(a) Their dependence on natural resources
(b) Geographical attributes
(c) Lack of financial resources
(d) Lack of traditional knowledge
Code :
Answer: A. (a), (b) and (c) — Concept: Vulnerability to climate change is the product of two things — exposure, meaning how much climate hazard a group actually faces, which is set by…
- A.
(a), (b) and (c)
- B.
(b), (c) and (d)
- C.
(a), (b), (c) and (d)
- D.
(c) only
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept: Vulnerability to climate change is the product of two things — exposure, meaning how much climate hazard a group actually faces, which is set by where it lives and what its livelihood rests on; and coping capacity, meaning the money, assets, institutions and knowledge it can draw on to absorb a shock and recover from it. A trait is therefore a factor of vulnerability only if it raises exposure or lowers coping capacity. A resource a community already possesses works the other way round, as a buffer, so the absence of that resource counts only if the community genuinely lacks it.
Applying the test: a code question of this kind is settled item by item, never as a whole. Each listed trait is checked against what the passage actually states, and it is kept only if the passage supports it.
Listed trait | What the passage states | Effect on vulnerability |
|---|---|---|
(a) Dependence on natural resources | "Vulnerability to climate change is not just a function of geography or dependence on natural resources; it also has social, economic and political dimensions." The phrase "not just" adds further dimensions to these two; it does not deny them. | Raises exposure — a factor |
(b) Geographical attributes | Named in the very same sentence, as the other half of that "not just" pair. | Raises exposure — a factor |
(c) Lack of financial resources | "Poor people rarely have insurance to cover loss of property due to natural calamities," and poor communities are "already struggling to cope with the existing challenges of poverty." | Lowers coping capacity — a factor |
(d) Lack of traditional knowledge | The passage states the reverse: "There is a large body of knowledge and experience within local communities on coping with climatic variability," and traditional knowledge supplies "time-tested ways of advising and enabling adaptation." | No such lack is claimed — not a factor |
Cross-check: three of the four listed traits survive the test and the fourth is contradicted, so the code that keeps dependence on natural resources, geographical attributes and lack of financial resources, and drops lack of traditional knowledge, is the correct one — that is, (a), (b) and (c).
Two slips this item is built to catch:
Reading "not just a function of geography or dependence on natural resources" as a denial. It is an addition, not a denial; treating it as a denial throws away (a) and (b) and pushes the reader towards a code built around (c) alone.
Assuming that poor communities lack traditional knowledge. The passage argues the opposite at length — that this accumulated local experience is exactly what should be used, in synergy with government interventions — so (d) describes a deficit the passage never claims.