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. People rooted in a locality
- (a)cause harm to available resources
- (b)generate resources
- (c)believe in conservation and re-production of resources
- (d)consume resources freely
Correct — C, ‘believe in conservation and re-production of resources’. The closing sentence of the passage is about exactly these people. Those ‘rooted in a locality, and retaining control over their resource base’ are the most likely to meet all three prerequisites for sustainable resource use, ‘and therefore to behave in ways conducive to the conservation of biodiversity within their localities’. Conservation is the writer's own word for what they do.
- (a)cause harm to available resources — The passage says the reverse — locally rooted people with secure control are the ones most likely to conserve.
- (b)generate resources — Generating resources is claimed nowhere; the argument is about using existing renewable resources sustainably.
- (d)consume resources freely — Free consumption is what the writer attributes to people with vast catchments, easy substitutes or insecure control, not to those rooted in a place.
The last sentence of the passage answers this item. Local rootedness together with secure control produces the three perceptions that motivate prudent use, and so leads to conservation.
The option adds ‘re-production’ of resources, a word the passage never uses; what the text does say is that the resources at issue are renewable and that such communities use them sustainably. Conservation is stated outright, and it is the half of the option that has to carry the item, because each of the other three flatly contradicts the closing sentence.
- The three prerequisites are a catchment perceived as limited, substitution seen as not readily feasible, and secure control.
- The closing sentence ties local rootedness to the conservation of biodiversity within localities.
- Rejecting the right option because one of its words is missing from the passage.
- Confusing conservation of a resource with generation of a new one.
Asked as a passage-based comprehension item — complete the statement in line with the passage.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The three prerequisites for sustainable resource use, according to the passage, are perceptions of
- (a)abundance, easy substitution and insecure control
- (b)a limited catchment, difficult substitution and secure control
- (c)state ownership, market access and new technology
- (d)a vast catchment, secure control and easy substitution
Answer(b) a limited catchment, difficult substitution and secure control — the three perceptions the writer names.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The passage connects the conservation of biodiversity most directly to
- (a)government regulation
- (b)people rooted in a locality who control their resource base
- (c)the ready availability of substitutes
- (d)vast resource catchments
Answer(b) people rooted in a locality who control their resource base — the subject of the closing sentence.