Which of the following argument supports the conservation of biodiver…

The correct answer is Option (2) → Broadly Utilitarian Argument

Option (1) Narrowly Utilitarian Argument — Incorrect. This argument is about the direct economic benefits we take from nature: food, firewood, fibre, construction material, industrial products and medicines. A bird’s song is not a product that can be sold.

Option (2) Broadly Utilitarian Argument — Correct. This argument says that biodiversity gives us many ecosystem services, such as oxygen and pollination. It also counts the intangible benefits, the pleasures of nature that have no price, like the song of a bulbul in the morning.

Option (3) Ethical Argument — Incorrect. The ethical argument is about what we owe to other species. Every species has a value of its own, whether or not it is of any use to us. It does not speak of our own pleasure.

Option (4) Philosophical Argument — Incorrect. NCERT groups the reasons for conservation into only three arguments: narrowly utilitarian, broadly utilitarian and ethical. The philosophical or spiritual view, that every species has an intrinsic value, is a part of the ethical argument.

NCERT Extract:
Why Should We Conserve Biodiversity? – “… The broadly utilitarian argument says that biodiversity plays a major role in many ecosystem services that nature provides. The fast-dwindling Amazon forest is estimated to produce, through photosynthesis, 20 per cent of the total oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere. … You can get some idea by finding out how much your neighborhood hospital spends on a cylinder of oxygen. Pollination (without which plants cannot give us fruits or seeds) is another service, ecosystems provide through pollinators layer – bees, bumblebees, birds and bats. … There are other intangible benefits – that we derive from nature–the aesthetic pleasures of walking through thick woods, watching spring flowers in full bloom or waking up to a bulbul’s song in the morning.”