Environmental Management — IELTS Reading Answers

Section A

“The role of governments in environmental management is difficult but inescapable”

Section A opens by calling governments' role in environmental management difficult but inescapable, so heading v, which captures that unavoidable governmental burden, is the match.

Section B

“World food output per head has risen by 4 per cent between the 1970s and 1980s mainly as a result of increases in yields from land already in cultivation, but also because more land has been brought under the plough”

Section B traces rising world food output through higher yields and more land brought under the plough, so heading vii, about growth in food production, fits.

Section C

“All these activities may have damaging environmental impacts. For example, land clearing for agriculture is the largest single cause of deforestation; chemical fertilisers and pesticides may contaminate water supplies; more intensive farming and the abandonment of fallow periods tend to exacerbate soil erosion;”

Section C lists damaging impacts such as deforestation, contaminated water, soil erosion and lost plant varieties, so the heading about farming's harmful environmental effects fits.

Section D

“In the rich countries, subsidies for growing crops and price supports for farm output drive up the price of land”

Section D shows rich-country crop subsidies and price supports driving up the price of land, so heading iv, on subsidies inflating land values, is correct.

Section F

“A result of the Uruguay Round of world trade negotiations is likely to be a reduction of 36 per cent in the average levels of farm subsidies paid by the rich countries in 1986-1990”

Section F reports the Uruguay Round cutting rich-country farm subsidies by 36 per cent, so heading i, about reducing support paid to farmers, matches.

“land clearing for agriculture is the largest single cause of deforestation”

The gap names a farming activity causing deforestation; the text calls land clearing for agriculture the largest single cause, which is option G.

“chemical fertilisers and pesticides may contaminate water supplies”

The gap needs a cause of contaminated water supplies; the text says chemical fertilisers and pesticides may contaminate water, matching option C, chemical inputs.

“more intensive farming and the abandonment of fallow periods tend to exacerbate soil erosion”

The gap needs an effect linked to intensive farming and abandoned fallow periods; the text says these tend to exacerbate soil erosion, option F.

“and the spread of monoculture and use of high-yielding varieties of crops have been accompanied by the disappearance of old varieties of food plants which might have provided some insurance against pests or diseases in future”

The gap needs the consequence for plant varieties; monoculture and high-yielding crops brought the disappearance of old food plants, option B.

Research completed in 1982 found that in the United States soil erosion

1. Areduced the productivity of farmland by 20 per cent.
2. Bwas almost as severe as in India and China.
3. Cwas causing significant damage to 20 per cent of farmland.correct
4. Dcould be reduced by converting cultivated land to meadow or forest.

“The United States, where the most careful measurements have been done, discovered in 1982 that about one-fifth of its farmland was losing topsoil at a rate likely to diminish the soil's productivity”

The 1982 United States finding was that about one-fifth of farmland was losing topsoil fast enough to cut productivity, meaning significant damage to 20 per cent.

By the mid-1980s, farmers in Denmark

1. Aused 50 per cent less fertiliser than Dutch farmers.
2. Bused twice as much fertiliser as they had in 1960.correct
3. Capplied fertiliser much more frequently than in 1960.
4. Dmore than doubled the amount of pesticide they used in just 3 years.

“Fertiliser use doubled in Denmark in the period 1960-1985”

The text states fertiliser use doubled in Denmark between 1960 and 1985, so by the mid-1980s Danish farmers used twice as much as in 1960.

Which one of the following increased in New Zealand after 1984?

1. Afarm incomes
2. Buse of fertiliser
3. Cover-stocking
4. Dfarm diversificationcorrect

“Farms began to diversify”

After 1984 New Zealand scrapped farm support and farms began to diversify; the other listed items fell, so farm diversification is the increase.

The writer refers to some rich countries as being 'less enlightened' than New Zealand because

1. Athey disapprove of paying farmers for not cultivating the land.
2. Btheir new fuel crops are as harmful as the ones they have replaced.
3. Ctheir policies do not recognise the long-term benefit of ending subsidies.correct
4. Dthey have not encouraged their farmers to follow environmentally friendly practices.

“The most dramatic example was that of New Zealand, which scrapped most farm support in 1984 In less enlightened countries, and in the European Union, the trend has been to reduce rather than eliminate subsidies, and to introduce new payments to encourage farmers to treat their land in environmentally friendlier ways,”

Less enlightened countries reduce rather than eliminate subsidies, adding payments instead; unlike New Zealand they fail to see the long-term benefit of ending support.

The writer believes that the Uruguay Round agreements on trade will

1. Aencourage more sustainable farming practices in the long term.correct
2. Bdo more harm than good to the international environment.
3. Cincrease pressure to cultivate land in the rich countries.
4. Dbe more beneficial to rich than to poor countries.

“And more farmers in poor countries wilt have the money and the incentive to manage their land in ways that are sustainable in the long run”

The writer says more farmers in poor countries will then have money and incentive to manage land sustainably in the long run, matching option A.

From the list below choose the most suitable title for Reading Passage 2.

1. AEnvironmental managementcorrect
2. BIncreasing the world's food supply
3. CSoil erosion
4. DFertilisers and pesticides - the way forward
5. EFarm subsidies

“The role of governments in environmental management is difficult but inescapable”

The passage centres on governments' inescapable role in environmental management and farming's environmental impact, so title A fits better than food supply or subsidies alone.