UPSC Ecology And Environment Environment And Sustainable Development / पर्यावरण और सतत विकास Question Bank Sustainable Development

  • question_answer
    Why is transport one of the most intractable factors in considering the global environmental problem?

    A) Our transport capabilities worldwide have not expanded fast enough for us to cope with the consequences of global warming

    B) Transport demand grows faster than possible technological improvements can reduce the output of greenhouse gases and the depletion of nonrenewable fossil fuel reserves

    C) Reducing the growth of the transport sector will hold back economic growth, and hence reduce the resources we have available to deal with the global environmental problem

    D) World oil refinery capacity has failed to expand in line with the demand for internal combustion fuels

    Correct Answer: B

    Solution :

    The first and fourth alternatives are clearly ruled out which do not have anything to do with environmental problems, except to make them worse. The second alternative is clearly correct, but the third has just enough of a grain of truth to lead the unwary astray. In fact, this argument is actually put forward in some circles, and relates back to some very involved arguments about the relationship between transport and economic development. Apart from the issue of the immediacy of our global environmental problem, vis-a-vis the long term nature of potential gains in economic growth from transport investment, a basic problem for those who support this argument is that research over many years has failed to demonstrate that transport investment reliably produces the economic growth effects claimed for it.


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