OPSC OAS Paper 2 GS 2019 Solved Paper

Question Numbers: 71-75
Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow passage. Your answer to these questions should be based on the passages only.
Truly Nature is the mother of all life, because it provides us all our basic needs for survival. Throughout the day, we rely on natural resources such as soil, minerals, air, water, sunlight, coal, petroleum, natural gas, fossil fuels, oil and so on. Plants and animals are also necessary if we must live. They are also natural resources for us. ‘Natural resources’, as the words suggest, means the basic wealth which occurs naturally on Earth. It is not manmade. But sadly, it is man who misuses them and actually destroys them. It takes several thousands of years for some natural resources like fossil fuels, coal, and oil to form. Since all these are so important for our existence, naturally we must preserve them and use them with great care and respect.
Some of these resources are available in plenty. Some of them have the ability to renew themselves. On the other hand, some cannot renew themselves and are called non-renewable sources. Water, for example, keeps changing but is not destroyed and so it is a renewable source of energy. It takes the form of vapour and comes back as rain to earth. Water, therefore, is a renewable natural resource. We use throughout the day for many purposes. Water is necessary to produce electricity, for irrigation, for industrial and other activities. Its scarcity would cause loss of vegetation, create an adverse effect on flora and fauna and erosion of soil, to say the least. Since human beings depend upon the natural resources for their existence, the resources must be used wisely. If not it would create an imbalance in the environment. Our very existence would be in danger if we do not create and maintain an eco-friendly atmosphere.