People by and large are concerned with and pursue self-interest. They are unlikely to be motivated to use renewable resources in a prudent and sustainable fashion. They are unlikely to be motivated under the following conditions : if their resource catchments are vast, so that degradation of any particular portion affects them very little; or if they have open before them possibilities of substitution as any one resource element is depleted; or if their control over the resource base is tenuous, so that others may, at any time, deplete a resource they value, even if they use it in a restrained fashion. Indeed, exhaustive use is highly likely when any one of these three conditions obtains. It is only when people perceive their resource catchments as limited, possibilities of substitution of exhausted resource elements as not readily feasible, and their own control over the resource base as secure, will they be motivated to use the resources in a prudent fashion. People, rooted in a locality, and retaining control over their resource base are most likely to fulfil all three prerequisites for sustainable resource use; and therefore to behave in ways conducive to the conservation of biodiversity within their localities. Why, according to the writer can’t people be motivated to use a resource prudently ? 1. They feel that others may overuse the resource 2. It is possible to substitute the resource 3. Abundance of the resource availability Select the correct answer using the code given below :
- (a)1 only
- (b)2 only
- (c)2 and 3 only
- (d)1, 2 and 3
Correct — D, ‘1, 2 and 3’. One sentence of the passage names three conditions, and each of the three statements matches one of them. Resource catchments so vast that degradation of any particular portion affects people very little is statement 3. Open possibilities of substitution as one resource element is depleted is statement 2. Control that is tenuous, ‘so that others may, at any time, deplete a resource they value’, is statement 1. The writer then adds that exhaustive use is highly likely when any one of the three obtains.
- (a)1 only — It keeps the tenuous-control condition and drops the other two that the same sentence lists beside it.
- (b)2 only — Substitution is one of the three conditions the writer sets out, not the only one.
- (c)2 and 3 only — This drops the fear that others will get to the resource first, which the passage states as the third of its conditions.
The item is a three-part checklist run against a single sentence of the passage. The writer sets out exactly three conditions under which self-interested people will not conserve a renewable resource.
Test each statement against the text before you look at the code. The trap in statement 3 is the word abundance, which the passage never uses — a hurried reader drops it for that reason alone. Yet a catchment so vast that the loss of any portion matters very little is abundance, put in the writer's own words.
- The three conditions in the passage are vast catchments, available substitutes and insecure control.
- The writer says exhaustive use is highly likely when any one of the three holds, not only when all three do together.
- Rejecting a statement because it uses a word the passage does not use.
- Reading the three conditions as though they had to hold together.
Asked as a passage-based item with a three-statement code — select the statements the passage supports.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
According to the passage, exhaustive use of a resource becomes highly likely when
- (a)all three conditions hold together
- (b)any one of the three conditions holds
- (c)control over the resource base is secure
- (d)substitution is not readily feasible
Answer(b) any one of the three conditions holds — the passage says exhaustive use is highly likely when any one of these three conditions obtains.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following does the passage treat as a condition that discourages prudent use?
- (a)A catchment so vast that losing part of it matters little
- (b)Control over the resource base that is secure
- (c)Substitutes that are not readily feasible
- (d)Being rooted in one locality
Answer(a) A catchment so vast that losing part of it matters little — the other three are conditions the passage links to prudent use.