Coastal villages face flooding more often as polar ice melts and the sea level rises. Which environmental problem lies behind this, and what is one of its causes?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Global warming; burning of fossil fuels and deforestation
Melting polar ice, a rising sea level and coastal flooding are longer-term results of global warming. Global warming is caused by more greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation.
Option (1) Ozone depletion; burning of fossil fuels — Incorrect. Ozone depletion does not melt polar ice, and it is not caused by burning fossil fuels.
Option (2) Global warming; burning of fossil fuels and deforestation — Correct. Both the problem and its cause are right.
Option (3) Land degradation; shifting cultivation — Incorrect. Shifting cultivation causes land degradation, which does not raise the sea level.
Option (4) Ozone depletion; chlorofluorocarbons used in refrigerators — Incorrect. CFCs cause ozone depletion, which leads to more UV radiation, not coastal flooding.
NCERT (2026-27): “Box 7.1: Global Warming Global warming is a gradual increase in the average temperature of the earth’s lower atmosphere as a result of the increase in greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution. Much of the recent observed and projected global warming is human-induced. It is caused by man-made increases in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases through the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. … Some of the longer-term results of global warming are melting of polar ice with a resulting rise in sea level and coastal flooding; …” |