Read the passage and answer the questions:
Environmental Concerns in Global Politics
Although environmental concerns have a long history, awareness of the environmental consequences of economic growth acquired an increasingly political character from the 1960s onwards. The Club of Rome, a global think tank, published a book in 1972 entitled Limits to Growth, dramatising the potential depletion of the Earth’s resources against the backdrop of rapidly growing world population. International agencies, including the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), began holding international conferences and promoting detailed studies to get a more coordinated and effective response to environmental problems. Since then, the environment has emerged as a significant issue of global politics. The growing focus on environmental issues within the arena of global politics was firmly consolidated at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992. This was also called the Earth Summit. The summit was attended by 170 states, thousands of NGOs and many multinational corporations. 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. What was obvious at the Rio Summit was that the rich and developed countries of the First World, generally referred to as the ‘global North’ were pursuing a different environmental agenda than the poor and developing countries of the Third World, called the ‘global South’. Whereas the Northern states were concerned with ozone depletion and global warming, the Southern states were anxious to address the relationship between economic development and environmental management. 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.
Which one of the following statements pertains to ‘Agenda 21’?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → It achieved a consensus on sustainable approach to development.
Note 1: The given answer is as per the official NTA Answer Key. However, there seems to be an ambiguity in the question. The consensus on combining economic growth with ecological responsibility was reached at the Rio Summit; Agenda 21 was only the list of development practices the summit recommended, and critics found it biased in favour of economic growth. Going strictly by the question, no option describes Agenda 21 itself; Option (4) is the closest, as explained below.
Option (1) It was published by the Brundtland Commission. — Incorrect. Agenda 21 was a list of development practices recommended by the Rio Summit of 1992. The Brundtland Report, Our Common Future (1987), was a different document.
Option (2) It resolved the differences and difficulties between the global south and the global north. — Incorrect. The summit left unresolved considerable differences and difficulties.
Option (3) It recommended that the traditional patterns of economic growth were sustainable in the long term. — Incorrect. The Brundtland Report had warned that they were not sustainable.
Option (4) It achieved a consensus on sustainable approach to development. — Correct. Along with Agenda 21 there was a consensus on combining economic growth with ecological responsibility, the approach known as ‘sustainable development’, though critics said Agenda 21 was biased in favour of growth.
Note 2: This passage is taken word for word from the NCERT chapter ‘Environment and Natural Resources’, the section ‘Environmental Concerns in Global Politics’. Every answer of this case study is a line of that one section, so the section alone was worth five sure marks.
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.…” |