Read the passage and answer the questions:
Environment and natural resources
According to the Human Development Report 2016 of the United Nations Development Programme, 663 million people in developing countries have no access to safe water and 2.4 billion have no access to sanitation, resulting in the death of more than three million children every year. 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. 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. ‘Commons’ are those resources which are not owned by anyone but rather shared by a community. Cooperation over the global commons is not easy. There have been many path-breaking agreements such as the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, the 1987 Montreal Protocol, and the 1991 Antarctic Environmental Protocol. To address environmental issues, the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) provides that the parties should act to protect the climate system “on the basis of equity and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.”
The book Limits to Growth highlights:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Potential depletion of the Earth’s resources against the backdrop of rapidly growing world population
Option (1) Decrease of the rate of population growth and its impact on environment — Incorrect. Limits to Growth spoke of a rapidly growing world population, not a decrease.
Option (2) Depletion of ozone layer and its impact on extra-terrestial atmosphere — Incorrect. Ozone depletion is a separate environmental concern; it was not the theme of this work.
Option (3) Potential depletion of the Earth’s resources ... — Correct. The Club of Rome published Limits to Growth in 1972, dramatising the potential depletion of the Earth’s resources against the backdrop of rapidly growing world population.
Option (4) Increase of endangered species and its impact on natural ecosystem — Incorrect. The loss of species is not what the work highlighted.
Note: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2026 on 29-05-2026 (Slot 2).
NCERT (2025-26): “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.…” |