Read the following passage and answer the items that follow. Your answers to these items should be based on the passage only.
Ecosystems provide people with a variety of goods and services; food, clean water, clean air, flood control, soil stabilization, pollination, climate regulation, spiritual fulfilment and aesthetic enjoyment, to name just a few. Most of these benefits either are irreplaceable or the technology necessary to replace them is prohibitively expensive. For example, potable fresh water can be provided by desalinating sea-water, but only great cost. The rapidly expanding human population has greatly modified the Earth’s ecosystems to meet their increased requirements of some of the goods and services, particularly food, fresh water, timber, fiber and fuel. These modifications have contributed substantially to human well
being and economic development. The benefits have not been equally distributed. Some people have actually been harmed by these changes. Moreover, short-term increases in some ecosystem goods and services have come at the cost of the long-term degradation of others. For example, efforts to increase the production of food and fibre have decreased the ability of some ecosystems to provide clean water, regulate flooding and support biodiversity.
With reference to the passage, consider the following statements:
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Statement 2 is correct. The passage explicitly states, "Most of these benefits either are irreplaceable or the technology necessary to replace them is prohibitively expensive." This indicates that technology cannot fully substitute all goods and services provided by ecosystems, or can do so only at a prohibitive cost, as illustrated by the example of desalinating seawater.
Statement 1 is incorrect. The passage notes that human populations have "greatly modified the Earth’s ecosystems to meet their increased requirements." However, it does not assert that such modification is "imperative" for human well-being. Instead, the passage highlights the negative consequences of these modifications, such as "long-term degradation of others" and the fact that "some people have actually been harmed by these changes." The text describes modifications as having occurred due to human demands, but does not present them as a necessary or universally beneficial imperative.