21 multiple-choice (MCQ / objective) questions from this chapter, in every exam-style shape used in the paper. Every question comes with an explanation along with the answer, so you remember why the option is correct, not just which one it is.
1 Direct Questions
Direct Questions
- 1 markWhich global think tank published the book Limits to Growth in 1972?
(A) The Club of Rome(B) The Brundtland Commission(C) The United Nations Environment Programme(D) The World Council of Indigenous Peoples - 1 markWhat name was given to the list of development practices recommended at the Rio Summit?
(A) The Rio Declaration(B) Agenda 21(C) Our Common Future(D) The Montreal Protocol - 1 markThe Kyoto Protocol was agreed to
(A) in 1992 at Rio de Janeiro(B) in 1987 at Montreal(C) in 2016 at Paris(D) in 1997 in Kyoto in Japan - 1 markIndian emissions are predicted to rise from 0.9 tonnes per capita in 2000 to what figure per capita in 2030?
(A) 1.2 tonnes(B) 3.8 tonnes(C) 1.6 tonnes(D) 2.4 tonnes - 1 markSaudi Arabia has what share of the world’s total oil reserves?
(A) A tenth(B) A quarter(C) A third(D) Two-thirds - 1 markIn India, the Scheduled Tribes constitute nearly what share of the population of the country?
(A) five per cent(B) twelve per cent(C) eight per cent(D) fifteen per cent
2 Assertion-Reason
Assertion-Reason
- 1 markAssertion (A): Issues of environment and natural resources have become part of world politics.
Reason (R): Most environmental problems are such that no single government can address them fully.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A(B) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A(C) A is true but R is false(D) A is false but R is true - 1 markAssertion (A): The open sea is more polluted than the coastal waters.
Reason (R): Coastal waters are becoming increasingly polluted largely due to land-based activities.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A(B) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A(C) A is true but R is false(D) A is false but R is true
3 Match the Following
Match the Following
- 1 markMatch the year in List I with the agreement in List II.
List I: (i) 1959, (ii) 1987, (iii) 1991, (iv) 1997
List II: (A) Antarctic Environmental Protocol, (B) Antarctic Treaty, (C) Kyoto Protocol, (D) Montreal Protocol
(A) (i)-A, (ii)-D, (iii)-B, (iv)-C(B) (i)-B, (ii)-D, (iii)-A, (iv)-C(C) (i)-B, (ii)-A, (iii)-D, (iv)-C(D) (i)-D, (ii)-B, (iii)-A, (iv)-C - 1 markMatch the indigenous group in List I with the number the chapter gives in List II.
List I: (i) Indigenous people of the Cordillera region of the Philippines, (ii) Mapuche people of Chile, (iii) Kuna living east of the Panama Canal, (iv) North American natives
List II: (A) 35 lakh, (B) 50,000, (C) 20 lakh, (D) 10 lakh
(A) (i)-C, (ii)-D, (iii)-B, (iv)-A(B) (i)-B, (ii)-A, (iii)-C, (iv)-D(C) (i)-A, (ii)-D, (iii)-C, (iv)-B(D) (i)-D, (ii)-B, (iii)-A, (iv)-C
4 Statement-Based Questions
Statement-Based Questions
- 1 markConsider the following statements.
(i) The Antarctic represents 90 per cent of all terrestrial ice.
(ii) Since 1959, activities in the Antarctic have been limited to scientific research, fishing and tourism.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(A) Only (i)(B) Only (ii)(C) Both (i) and (ii)(D) Neither (i) nor (ii) - 1 markConsider the following statements.
(i) The Rio Declaration says that all states carry identical responsibilities for the Earth’s ecosystem.
(ii) Agenda 21 has been criticised for being biased in favour of ecological conservation rather than economic growth.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(A) Only (i)(B) Only (ii)(C) Both (i) and (ii)(D) Neither (i) nor (ii)
5 Chronological Ordering
Chronological Ordering
- 1 markArrange the following in the correct chronological order.
(i) The publication of Limits to Growth
(ii) The Antarctic Treaty
(iii) The publication of Our Common Future
(iv) The Earth Summit at Rio de Janeiro
(A) (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)(B) (ii), (iii), (i), (iv)(C) (ii), (i), (iii), (iv)(D) (i), (iii), (ii), (iv) - 1 markArrange the following in the correct chronological order.
(i) The Kyoto Protocol is agreed to
(ii) The Montreal Protocol
(iii) India ratifies the Paris Climate Agreement
(iv) The Antarctic Environmental Protocol
(A) (ii), (iv), (i), (iii)(B) (ii), (i), (iv), (iii)(C) (iv), (ii), (i), (iii)(D) (i), (ii), (iv), (iii)
6 Fill in the Blanks
Fill in the Blanks
- 1 mark“Resource geopolitics is all about who gets what, when, ________ and how.”
(A) why(B) whether(C) by whom(D) where - 1 mark“‘Since times ________’ is the phrase used by indigenous people all over the world to refer to their continued occupancy of the lands from which they originate.”
(A) past(B) immemorial(C) forgotten(D) ancient
7 Odd One Out
Odd One Out
- 1 markThree of these countries have made legal claims to sovereign rights over Antarctic territory, according to the chapter. Which is the odd one out?
(A) India(B) Norway(C) Chile(D) New Zealand
8 Passage-Based Questions
Passage-Based Questions
Passage
‘Commons’ are those resources which are not owned by anyone but rather shared by a community. This could be a ‘common room’, a ‘community centre’, a park or a river. Similarly, there are some areas or regions of the world which are located outside the sovereign jurisdiction of any one state, and therefore require common governance by the international community. These are known as res communis humanitatis or global commons. They include the earth’s atmosphere, Antarctica, the ocean floor, and outer space.
- 1 markAccording to the passage, what makes a resource a ‘commons’?
(A) It is owned by the state on behalf of everyone(B) It is not owned by anyone but rather shared by a community(C) It is governed by an international treaty(D) It lies outside the sovereign jurisdiction of any one state
Passage
The global economy relied on oil for much of the 20th century as a portable and indispensable fuel. The immense wealth associated with oil generates political struggles to control it, and the history of petroleum is also the history of war and struggle. Nowhere is this more obviously the case than in West Asia and Central Asia. West Asia, specifically the Gulf region, accounts for about 30 per cent of global oil production. But it has about 64 per cent of the planet’s known reserves, and is therefore the only region able to satisfy any substantial rise in oil demand. Saudi Arabia has a quarter of the world’s total reserves and is the single largest producer. Iraq’s known reserves are second only to Saudi Arabia’s.
- 1 markAccording to the passage, which country is the single largest producer of oil?
(A) Iraq(B) The United States(C) Iran(D) Saudi Arabia
9 True / False
True / False
- 1 mark(i) According to the Human Development Report 2016, 663 million people in developing countries have no access to safe water.
(ii) The same report says 2.4 billion have no access to sanitation, resulting in the death of more than three million children every year.
(A) Both statements are true(B) Both statements are untrue(C) (i) is true and (ii) is untrue(D) (i) is untrue and (ii) is true - 1 mark(i) The UK, Argentina, Chile, Norway, France, Australia and New Zealand hold that Antarctica is part of the global commons.
(ii) Most other states have taken the view that the Antarctic is not subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of any state.
(A) Both statements are true(B) Both statements are untrue(C) (i) is true and (ii) is untrue(D) (i) is untrue and (ii) is true
Answer Key and Explanations
Direct Questions
- (A) The chapter names it exactly: the Club of Rome, a global think tank, published a book in 1972 entitled Limits to Growth, dramatising the potential depletion of the Earth’s resources against the backdrop of rapidly growing world population.
- (B) The Rio Summit produced conventions dealing with climate change, biodiversity and forestry, and recommended a list of development practices called ‘Agenda 21’. The Rio Declaration is a separate document, the one that carries the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.
- (D) The chapter says the protocol was agreed to in 1997 in Kyoto in Japan, based on principles set out in UNFCCC. The 1992 Rio meeting produced the UNFCCC itself, and the Paris Climate Agreement is the one India ratified on 2 October 2016.
- (C) The chapter gives 0.9 tonnes per capita in 2000 rising to 1.6 tonnes per capita in 2030. The point it draws from this is that even in 2030 India’s per capita emissions will still represent less than half the world average of 3.8 tonnes in 2000.
- (B) The chapter says Saudi Arabia has a quarter of the world’s total reserves and is the single largest producer, and that Iraq’s known reserves are second only to Saudi Arabia’s.
- (C) The chapter says the description ‘indigenous people’ is in India usually applied to the Scheduled Tribes, who constitute nearly eight per cent of the population of the country.
Assertion-Reason
- (A) Both sentences are the chapter’s own and they belong together. The chapter first asks whether these are not natural phenomena for geography, then answers that if governments take steps to check environmental degradation these issues have political consequences, and that most of them are such that no single government can address them fully; therefore they have to become part of ‘world politics’.
- (D) The chapter states the opposite of the assertion: ‘Although the open sea is relatively clean, the coastal waters are becoming increasingly polluted largely due to land-based activities.’ The second half of that same sentence is the reason, which is therefore correct on its own.
Match the Following
- (B) The chapter names three path-breaking agreements over the global commons in one sentence, in this order: the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, the 1987 Montreal Protocol and the 1991 Antarctic Environmental Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol of 1997 belongs to the climate change story, not to the global commons list.
- (A) The chapter’s own count, in the order it prints them: 20 lakh indigenous people of the Cordillera region of the Philippines, 10 lakh Mapuche people of Chile, six lakh tribal people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, 35 lakh North American natives, 50,000 Kuna living east of Panama Canal and 10 lakh Small Peoples of the Soviet North.
Statement-Based Questions
- (C) Both are the chapter’s own. Statement (i) is from the box’s opening description, and statement (ii) is from its closing lines, which add that even these limited activities have not prevented parts of the region from being degraded by waste as a result of oil spills.
- (D) Both reverse what the chapter says. The Rio Declaration’s whole point is that states have common but differentiated responsibilities, in view of their different contributions to global environmental degradation. And the criticism of Agenda 21 runs the other way round: some critics have pointed out that it was biased in favour of economic growth rather than ensuring ecological conservation.
Chronological Ordering
- (C) All four years are in the chapter: the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, Limits to Growth in 1972, the Brundtland Report Our Common Future in 1987, and the Earth Summit in June 1992.
- (A) The four dates are 1987 for the Montreal Protocol, 1991 for the Antarctic Environmental Protocol, 1997 for the Kyoto Protocol, and 2 October 2016 for India’s ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Fill in the Blanks
- (D) This is the chapter’s one-line definition of resource geopolitics, and it is worth learning as printed, because the five question words are what an examiner looks for.
- (B) The chapter prints the phrase in quotation marks because it is the indigenous peoples’ own claim, made in the same words everywhere in the world, and it is the ground on which they appeal to governments to recognise them as enduring communities with an identity of their own.
Odd One Out
- (A) The chapter names seven claimants: the UK, Argentina, Chile, Norway, France, Australia and New Zealand. India is not among them. Most other states hold the opposite view, that the Antarctic is a part of the global commons and not subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of any state.
Passage-Based Questions
- (B) The passage opens with the definition itself. The fourth option describes the global commons, which is the next idea the passage moves to, and not the definition of a commons in general.
- (D) The passage says Saudi Arabia has a quarter of the world’s total reserves and is the single largest producer. Iraq comes next: its known reserves are second only to Saudi Arabia’s.
True / False
- (A) Both come from the same sentence of the chapter, which cites the Human Development Report 2016 of the United Nations Development Programme. Statement (i) is true and statement (ii) is true.
- (D) Statement (i) is untrue, because those seven are exactly the countries the chapter says have made legal claims to sovereign rights over Antarctic territory. Statement (ii) is true and describes the opposite camp: most other states have taken the view that the Antarctic is a part of the global commons and not subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of any state.
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