Which of the following is a reason for the high opportunity cost of negative environmental impacts?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → All of the above
Environmental damage forces spending that could have gone to other uses. That is what makes its opportunity cost high. All three options are such costs.
Option (1) Health cost linked with degraded environment — Correct. Polluted air and water raise spending on health.
Option (2) Financial commitments of the government for global issues such as global warming — Correct. Global warming and ozone depletion add to the government’s financial commitments.
Option (3) Expenditure incurred on technology and research — Correct. Exhausted resources force huge spending on research to find new ones.
NCERT (2026-27): “7.2 Environment — Definition and Functions … Besides, the intensive and extensive extraction of both renewable and non-renewable resources has exhausted some of these vital resources and we are compelled to spend huge amounts on technology and research to explore new resources. Added to these are the health costs of degraded environmental quality — decline in air and water quality (seventy per cent of water in India is polluted) have resulted in increased incidence of respiratory and water-borne diseases. Hence the expenditure on health is also rising. To make matters worse, global environmental issues such as global warming and ozone depletion also contribute to increased financial commitments for the government.” “Thus, it is clear that the opportunity costs of negative environmental impacts are high. …” |