PrepTest 155, Section 3, Question 12

Working the answers

• A
  Correct

  The final paragraph offers ways to improve treaties rather than reasons to abandon the broad principles. Proportional shares can adjust to river flows while still pursuing equitable use; contingency plans can address shortages. These proposals support the possibility of satisfying both the goals and the need for flexibility.

• B

  The author proposes better treaties, not unilateral regulation by the commission when treaties fall short. No such authority or intervention is recommended, even if the stated goal of protecting rivers sounds familiar.

• C

  The criticism isn't that the articles look only at individual national stretches of rivers and ignore whole systems. It concerns environmental change over time and rigid water quantities. Reformulation itself isn't the problem with C; the supposed defect motivating it is unsupported.

• D

  No survey of existing treaties tells us that many already permit flexible responses to global warming. Proposing flexibility doesn't establish how common it currently is.

• E

  We learn that fixed allocations could favor the greatest users. That doesn't tell us which treaty terms those countries have historically supported. A policy's possible benefit to a country isn't evidence of that country's stated preference.