#13 - Concept Reference, Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (E).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E): This is the correct answer choice.


This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[gooodshiit]

Hello,

I wonder if anyone could help explain this question? Particularly, could someone tell me the exact line reference for answer choice E?

I chose D, because in the first paragraph, the author states that the growing importance of water has increased the potential for conflict. While now I see the potential for conflict doesn't mean conflicts have been rising sharply, I just couldn't see how E is correct and therefore a better answer choice.

Again, thank you for all the helpful comments on this forum!! Really appreciate your help!

[Robert Carroll]

good,

The first sentence of the second paragraph (lines 17-22) provides the reference for answer choice (E), especially "past legal decisions" at the end of that selection.

Robert Carroll

[Katherinthesky]

Is (C) incorrect because the idea that precipitation has been "declining steadily" at the time the Draft Articles were developed is unsupported?
I got thrown off by the mention of "dwindling water supplies" in the first sentence of the passage.

Thanks in advance.

[Adam Tyson]

I think you are referring to answer B there, Katherinthesky, and one problem with that answer is that the passage never says there has been or is currently a steady decline in precipitation. It only says that rising CO2 contributes to decreased precipitation in some areas. Nothing necessarily "steady" about that! Add that to what you already determined - that we don't know if that was the case at the time the Draft Articles were drawn up - and there is no evidence for that answer. Good work!

[mseggio]

Hello,

I wonder if anyone could help explain this question? Particularly, could someone tell me the exact line reference for answer choice E?

I chose D, because in the first paragraph, the author states that the growing importance of water has increased the potential for conflict. While now I see the potential for conflict doesn't mean conflicts have been rising sharply, I just couldn't see how E is correct and therefore a better answer choice.

Again, thank you for all the helpful comments on this forum!! Really appreciate your help!

Pay close attention to the word choice/phrasing used in answer choice D. It was not conflict that was escalating (as this is not directly stated in the passage), but the potential for conflict was.

(See Paragraph #1, lines #4-5).

[etoipi]

I feel fairly strongly that no part of the passage implies that MUCH of the content of the ILC was already articulated by courts, as it mentions that the content was an attempt to codify both accepted practices and court decisions. Is this the right answer simply because it is most strongly supported compared to other options (even though it's on the weaker support side) or am I missing something? I picked d) at the time feeling that it was more supported than e), with some weak justification, but can see that the answer choice uses fairly strong language and the passage doesn't state conflict was increasing.

Thanks

[Luke Haqq]

Hi etoipi!

You can find support for answer choice (E) at the start of the second paragraph: "The ILC’s Draft Articles on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses are an attempt to codify the customary principles of international water law as those principles are manifested in past legal decisions and currently accepted international practice" (lines 17-22).

So we're told that the Draft Articles are based on customary principles that have developed within past legal decisions. That tells us that at least some of the content of the Draft Articles was already articulated by courts in water-rights cases. I appreciate that you take issue with the word "much," but note that this seems closer in meaning to "at least some" rather than "most." We don't know for sure that "most" of the content of the Draft Articles already appeared in prior case law, but we do know that "at least some"/"much" of the content did.