Sustainable development practice questions.

Which statement about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is accurate?

• There are 17 goals, adopted in 2015, with a target date of 2030
• There are 8 goals, adopted in 2000, with a target date of 2015
• There are 17 goals, adopted in 2000, with a target date of 2020
• There are 10 goals, adopted in 2015, applying only to low-income countries

Answer: There are 17 goals, adopted in 2015, with a target date of 2030

The 17 SDGs were adopted by all UN member states in 2015 with a 2030 target date; the 8 goals adopted in 2000 were the earlier Millennium Development Goals.

A government pursues rapid GDP growth. Which outcome best illustrates a potential conflict between economic growth and environmental sustainability?

• Rising tax revenue allows greater spending on education
• Higher incomes increase demand for eco-tourism
• Logging exports accelerate deforestation and soil erosion
• Increased investment in solar power lowers electricity prices

Answer: Logging exports accelerate deforestation and soil erosion

Growth based on resource depletion raises current output at the cost of environmental damage, reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

Ocean fish stocks tend to be over-exploited, threatening sustainability, because they are:

• excludable and rivalrous
• non-excludable and non-rivalrous
• excludable and non-rivalrous
• non-excludable and rivalrous

Answer: non-excludable and rivalrous

Fish stocks are common pool resources: no one can be excluded from fishing, yet each fish caught reduces what remains, so self-interested use leads to depletion.

Which of the following best explains how extreme poverty can contribute to environmental degradation?

• Poor households consume more fossil fuels than rich households
• Poor households may cut firewood and over-farm marginal land to survive
• Low-income countries always enforce stricter environmental regulation
• Poverty raises saving rates, which increases pressure on natural resources

Answer: Poor households may cut firewood and over-farm marginal land to survive

When survival is at stake, households prioritise immediate needs over conservation, overusing local resources such as forests and soil.

Which government policy is most directly aimed at promoting sustainable development?

• Subsidising kerosene for household use
• Removing taxes on coal-fired electricity
• Lowering the legal minimum age of employment
• Subsidising renewable energy technologies

Answer: Subsidising renewable energy technologies

Supporting renewables promotes growth in energy supply while reducing emissions and resource depletion, balancing economic and environmental objectives.

Which scenario is most consistent with the concept of sustainable development?

• Draining a wetland to build a shopping centre that creates short-term jobs
• Harvesting a forest at a rate that allows it to regenerate for future use
• Maximising this year's fish catch to boost current export revenue
• Extracting groundwater faster than aquifers can recharge to expand farmland

Answer: Harvesting a forest at a rate that allows it to regenerate for future use

Sustainable development meets present needs without compromising future generations; harvesting within a resource's regeneration rate preserves it for future use.