Which Sustainable Development Goal is titled Life Below Water?
- A.Goal 6
- B.Goal 13
- C.Goal 14
- D.Goal 15
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Goal 14. Sustainable Development Goal 14, Life Below Water, commits countries to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources, with targets on reducing marine pollution from land-based activities, protecting coastal ecosystems, addressing ocean acidification, ending overfishing and conserving coastal and marine areas. Option A is wrong because Goal 6 is Clean Water and Sanitation, which deals with drinking water, sanitation and freshwater management. Option B is wrong because Goal 13 is Climate Action, the goal on mitigation, adaptation and climate education; it is related to acidification through carbon dioxide but is not the ocean goal. Option D is wrong because Goal 15 is Life on Land, covering forests, desertification, land degradation and terrestrial biodiversity. The pair to fix is Goal 14 water and Goal 15 land.
Read the full article: Marine Pollution, Oil Spills and Ocean Acidification
Practice Questions
View allOcean acidification is caused mainly by the absorption of which gas by seawater?
- A.Nitrogen
- B.Carbon dioxide
- C.Methane
- D.Sulphur dioxide
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Carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater and reacts with water to form carbonic acid, which dissociates into bicarbonate and hydrogen ions; the extra hydrogen ions lower the pH, and they also combine with carbonate ions, leaving less carbonate for shells and coral skeletons.
Read the full explanation →Minamata disease, first recognised in Japan, is caused by poisoning from which element?
- A.Cadmium
- B.Arsenic
- C.Mercury
- D.Lead
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Methylmercury discharged with factory effluent into Minamata Bay entered fish and shellfish, biomagnified up the food chain and poisoned the people who ate them, producing the nervous disorder named after the bay and recognised in 1956.
Read the full explanation →Particles of plastic smaller than which size are classified as microplastics?
- A.5 millimetres
- B.5 centimetres
- C.5 micrometres
- D.5 nanometres
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Microplastics are conventionally defined as plastic particles less than five millimetres across.
Read the full explanation →Eutrophication of coastal waters leads most directly to which condition?
- A.A rise in dissolved oxygen that helps fish
- B.Depletion of dissolved oxygen and the formation of dead zones
- C.A fall in water temperature
- D.An increase in water salinity
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Eutrophication begins with nitrogen and phosphorus from fertiliser, detergent and sewage. The nutrients feed an algal bloom; the bloom is short-lived, and when it dies the bacteria that decompose the mass consume large amounts of dissolved oxygen.
Read the full explanation →The Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 took place in which waters?
- A.Gulf of Mexico
- B.Prince William Sound, Alaska
- C.Persian Gulf
- D.Bay of Bengal
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The tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Prince William Sound in 1989, releasing crude oil that coated a long stretch of a cold, sheltered coastline where oil breaks down slowly, and killing large numbers of seabirds, sea otters and salmon.
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