Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 3...

Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 31 to 40.

        As climate impacts outstrip what mitigation and adaptation can presently contain, governments have pivoted toward a third pillar: addressing loss and damage – the harms that remain after defenses fail. [I] Levies are being debated as pragmatic instruments to mobilise resources for communities living with irreversible losses, both economic and non-economic. They are conceived to complement, not supplant, emissions cuts and adaptive measures, foregrounding climate justice for the most vulnerable. The politics are fraught, yet recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) decisions recast support as cooperative facilitation rather than liability, opening space for credible, rules-based financing.

        Proposals span charges on international aviation and shipping, a tiny financial-transactions duty, and windfall taxes on fossil profits that would be hypothecated to a dedicated fund. Their salutary effect is to create a predictable, transnational revenue stream rather than sporadic charity. [II] Still, designs must avoid regressive burdens: border-adjusted formulas, polluter-pays logic, and carve-outs for essential mobility can cushion equity concerns while preserving incentives. Framed as cooperation, not culpability, levies can sit alongside insurance and humanitarian relief without pretending to monetise irreplaceable cultural or familial losses.

        Operationally, the fund countries launched at COP28 – hosted by the World Bank subject to strict conditions – must deliver quickly and fairly to those most exposed. Required safeguards include “firewalls” ensuring an independent board and secretariat, direct access for eligible countries, and universal eligibility under the Paris Agreement. Even if levies proliferate, they will not suffice unless governance ensures rapid, equitable disbursement. [III] In short, this mosaic of mechanisms – multilateral funds, the Santiago Network’s technical support, risk pools, concessional finance – only becomes credible when institutional plumbing turns pledges into payouts.

        Equally pivotal is narrative clarity. COP28 decisions reiterated that new funding arrangements for loss and damage are grounded in cooperation and facilitation and do not involve liability or compensation. [IV] That reassurance lowers diplomatic temperature while preserving a commitment to fairness: beneficiaries of carbon-intensive systems should help shoulder unavoidable harms. To honour non-economic losses – grief, identity, disrupted lifeways – levies are no panacea, yet they remain a tractable instrument within a just transition that refuses to abandon those already overrun.

(Adapted from weADAPT Knowledge Base, “What Is ‘Loss and Damage’ from climate change? 8 Key questions, answered”)

Question 31. The word salutary in paragraph 2 mostly means ______.

A. marginally curative                                B. profoundly beneficial

C. ostensibly punitive                                D. strikingly superficial

Question 32. Where in the passage does the following sentence best fit?

Such charges, when hypothecated, temper political resistance because payers see a clear social dividend.

A. [I]                        B. [II]                                C. [III]                        D. [IV]

Question 33. Which of the following best summarises paragraph 1?

A. As impacts exceed adaptation, levies join a new fund to finance unavoidable harms through cooperative, justice-oriented support rather than liability-based compensation.

B. Levy proposals definitively replace mitigation and adaptation, which have failed and are no longer relevant to UNFCCC discussions.

C. Countries agreed to impose equal charges everywhere to cover all losses immediately, economic and non-economic alike.

D. The private sector volunteered to finance all post-disaster needs, making public instruments like funds or levies unnecessary.

Question 34. What do the proposed levies primarily seek to finance?

A. after-the-fact support for impacted communities

B. routine mitigation and adaptation subsidies

C. export promotion for carbon-intensive sectors

D. general budget deficits in rich countries

Question 35. According to paragraph 2, levies on aviation and shipping could, if earmarked, ______.

A. reduce regressivity while maintaining credible incentives to curb carbon-intensive behaviour

B. shift costs onto low-income travellers despite protective carve-outs and thresholds

C. guarantee stable funding without any political controversy or administrative complexity

D. replace humanitarian relief entirely by monetising non-economic cultural and familial losses

Question 36. What institutional safeguards are emphasised for the fund to work effectively?

A. firewalls, direct access, and universal eligibility to accelerate fair, accountable disbursement on the ground

B. outsourcing decisions to private insurers with minimal transparency and no oversight whatsoever

C. restricting eligibility to World Bank members only to streamline administrative procedures globally

D. abolishing the fund’s board to prevent duplication with existing multilateral climate vehicles

Question 37. The phrase this mosaic in paragraph 3 refers to ______.

A. combined mechanisms                                B. liability waivers

C. single fund                                                D. aid queues

Question 38. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

A. Because liability language is excluded, countries now prefer coercive reparations, making lawsuits the main vehicle for redress.

B. Levies are part of a broader toolkit that, with institutional safeguards, helps convert pledges into timely support for communities confronting unavoidable harms.

C. Humanitarian aid alone, if coordinated, can entirely obviate the need for a dedicated fund or new revenue instruments.

D. The World Bank’s role eliminates the need for the Santiago Network, which becomes redundant once levies raise sufficient revenue.

Question 39. Which of the following best paraphrases the underlined sentence in paragraph 3?

Even if levies proliferate, they will not suffice unless governance ensures rapid, equitable disbursement.

A. Proliferating levies are insufficient unless governance guarantees fast, fair allocation so resources actually reach entitled communities at the right time.

B. Once levies spread widely, governance becomes irrelevant because funds automatically flow equitably and swiftly without independent oversight or dedicated institutions.

C. Governance can replace levies altogether by prioritizing transparency and speed, making revenue-raising measures unnecessary for loss-and-damage responses effectively.

D. Levies, if set high enough, will always suffice; patient disbursement procedures are acceptable if accountability is preserved throughout processes.

Question 40. Which of the following best summarises the passage?

A. Levies, embedded in a cooperative finance architecture, could fund loss and damage if paired with rigorous, equitable governance across complementary mechanisms.

B. New taxes alone will resolve climate injustice by compensating every non-economic loss without administrative reform or multilateral coordination.

C. Because legal liability remains unresolved, levies are politically impossible and absent from UNFCCC finance discussions.

D. Humanitarian aid should replace reconstruction, relocation, and livelihood restoration because it scales predictably and permanently.