Read the passage and answer the questions:
The developed countries of the North want to discuss the environmental issue as it stands now and want everyone to be equally responsible for ecological conservation. The developing countries of the South feel that much of the ecological degradation in the world is the product of industrial development undertaken by the developed countries. If they have caused more degradation, they must also take more responsibility for undoing the damage now. Moreover, the developing countries are in the process of industrialisation and they must not be subjected to the same restrictions, which apply to the developed countries. Thus the special needs of the developing countries must be taken into account in the development, application, and interpretation of rules of international environmental law. This argument was accepted in the Rio Declaration at the Earth Summit in 1992 and is called the principle of ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’. The Rio Summit produced conventions dealing with climate change, biodiversity, forestry, and recommended a list of development practices called “Agenda 21.” There was a consensus on combining economic growth with ecological responsibility. This approach to development is commonly known as ‘sustainable development’. Some critiques have pointed out that Agenda 21 was biased in favour of economic growth rather than ensuring ecological conservation.
“Agenda 21” was able to arrive at a consensus on which of the following?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Sustainable development
Option (1) Our common future — Incorrect. This is the title of the 1987 Brundtland Report, written five years before the Rio Summit. It warned that traditional patterns of economic growth were not sustainable in the long term; it was a warning that came before Rio, not the consensus reached there.
Option (2) Limits to growth — Incorrect. This is a book published in 1972 by the Club of Rome, a global think tank, dramatising the potential depletion of the Earth’s resources against a growing world population. It argued for limiting growth, while the Rio consensus was on combining growth with ecological responsibility.
Option (3) Sustainable development — Correct. The Rio Summit, which recommended Agenda 21, reached a consensus on combining economic growth with ecological responsibility, an approach to development commonly known as ‘sustainable development’.
Option (4) Development as freedom — Incorrect. This idea sees development as the widening of people’s freedoms and choices. It does not describe the balance between economic growth and ecological responsibility that was agreed at Rio.
Note: The concept in Option (4), ‘Development as freedom’, is not in NCERT (2025-26); explained here for the benefit of the students. It is the title of a 1999 book by the economist Amartya Sen and was no part of the Earth Summit.
NCERT (2025-26): “Environmental Concerns in Global Politics … The Rio Summit produced conventions dealing with climate change, biodiversity, forestry, and recommended a list of development practices called ‘Agenda 21’. But it left unresolved considerable differences and difficulties. There was a consensus on combining economic growth with ecological responsibility. This approach to development is commonly known as ‘sustainable development’. The problem however was how exactly this was to be achieved. Some critics have pointed out that Agenda 21 was biased in favour of economic growth rather than ensuring ecological conservation.… Environmental Concerns in Global Politics … Five years earlier, the 1987 Brundtland Report, Our Common Future, had warned that traditional patterns of economic growth were not sustainable in the long term, especially in view of the demands of the South for further industrial development.…” |