Sustainable Development Questions and Answers

Answer: B

Iodine deficiency causes goitre.

The thyroid gland needs iodine to make the hormones thyroxine (T₄) and triiodothyronine (T₃). When iodine is short, the pituitary secretes more thyroid-stimulating hormone, and the gland enlarges to trap more iodine, producing a swelling in the neck called goitre. Iodised salt is the main means of prevention, as under India's National Iodine Deficiency Disorders Control Programme.

Solitary thyroid nodules, thyroiditis (inflammation, often autoimmune) and thyroid cancer are thyroid disorders with other causes; none is the classic deficiency disease of iodine.

Answer: B

Both statements are true and [R] explains [A]. Organic farming is popular because it protects the environment, and it does so by using ecologically based pest controls and biological fertilisers made from animal waste and nitrogen-fixing cover crops.

Option D, which denies the explanation, and options A and C, which call a statement false, are not the key.

Organic farming avoids synthetic fertilisers and pesticides and relies on compost, green manure, crop rotation and biological pest control, so it protects soil and water. That is why the reason, which describes how the system works, explains why the farming is considered environmentally protective.

Answer: C

The numbering of the Sustainable Development Goals is No Poverty (1), Zero Hunger (2), Good Health (3) and Quality Education (4), so the order is No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Good Health, Quality Education, that is (3), (1), (2), (4), option C.

The other options place Good Health or Zero Hunger in the wrong position.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals begin with SDG 1 No Poverty, SDG 2 Zero Hunger, SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being and SDG 4 Quality Education. The question asks for the order of the goals, which gives (3), (1), (2), (4) when the items are numbered as printed.

Answer: A

The Inclusive Wealth Report is released by United Nations Environment (the UN Environment Programme).

The report measures the wealth of nations as the sum of their produced capital, human capital and natural capital, to show whether development is sustainable, rather than relying on GDP alone. Its 2018 edition was published by UN Environment with academic partners.

The World Economic Forum and INSEAD publish the Global Innovation Index and other reports, the World Bank publishes its own wealth-of-nations accounts under a different name, and NITI Aayog is India's policy think tank, so none of them issues this report.

Answer: C

This is sustainable development.

The Brundtland Commission's report Our Common Future (1987) defined sustainable development as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, which is exactly the definition in the question.

A green economy is a means to that end (low-carbon, resource-efficient growth), holistic development is a general term for all-round development, and subsistence agriculture is farming mainly to feed one's own family. None of these is defined by the balance between present needs and future generations.

Answer: D

Assertion (A) is false and Reason (R) is true, so the answer is the code stating that (A) is false but (R) is true. The biosphere is a closed, finite life-support system: its size and productivity are limited by water, nutrients and environmental conditions, exactly as (R) says. Because of that limit it cannot be called sustainable for every human demand, and it cannot fulfil all human needs when population and consumption keep growing. Codes A and B fail because (A) is not true. Code C fails because (R) is a correct statement, not a false one.

Answer: A

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the Earth Summit, was held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It produced Agenda 21, the Rio Declaration, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Framework Convention on Climate Change. Stockholm hosted the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment, Kyoto is known for the 1997 climate protocol, and Copenhagen for the 2009 climate conference. Only Rio matches 1992.

Answer: C

Baba Amte was the leader of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the movement against the large dams on the Narmada river, in which he joined Medha Patkar and settled on the river bank in the 1990s. The Chipko Movement was led by Sunderlal Bahuguna and Chandi Prasad Bhatt in the Himalayas, the Appiko Movement was a similar tree-hugging movement in Karnataka, and the Tehri Dam movement was led by Sunderlal Bahuguna. Baba Amte is not associated with these.

Answer: A

The Rio Summit (the Earth Summit) was held in 1992, the Johannesburg Earth Summit in 2002, the Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 and the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment took place in 1972. So a goes with 3, b with 4, c with 1 and d with 2, the code 3 4 1 2. The other codes pair the Rio Summit with 1997, 2002 or 1972, which is wrong for the first item already. Quick checks help here: Stockholm 1972 is the oldest and Johannesburg 2002 the latest of the four, which fixes the pairs d-2 and b-4 at once, and then Rio (3) and Kyoto (1) fill the rest.

Answer: C

The Chipko Movement is linked with Sundarlal Bahuguna (4), the Narmada Bachao Andolan with Medha Patkar (1), climate change with Al Gore (2) and the book Silent Spring with Rachel Carson (3). The code is 4 1 2 3, option C. The other codes pair Medha Patkar with the Chipko movement or Rachel Carson with climate change.