The Idea of Wilderness

Q1. The passage’s central claim about ‘wilderness’ is that:

1. Wilderness should be preserved without any human interference
2. The concept of pristine wilderness is largely a cultural invention — landscapes considered ‘wild’ were shaped by thousands of years of Indigenous management
3. All wilderness has been destroyed by human activity and no pristine environments remain
4. Indigenous peoples lived in harmony with nature without altering their environments

Q2. According to the passage, the idea of wilderness as uninhabited served the ideological purpose of:

1. Encouraging European settlers to explore and document new territories
2. Justifying the dispossession of Indigenous peoples by denying they had improved the land, thereby claiming it was not truly their property
3. Motivating conservation movements to protect endangered species from human encroachment
4. Creating a romantic ideal of nature that inspired European art and literature

Q3. Locke’s labour theory of property, as referenced in the passage, holds that:

1. All land belongs to those who labour upon it, regardless of prior occupation
2. Land becomes property only when mixed with productive labour
3. Land ownership requires a legal document issued by a recognised state authority
4. Labour has intrinsic value and must be compensated regardless of its productive output

Q4. The passage argues that conservation movements that sought to ‘preserve wilderness by removing people from it’ were problematic because:

1. They made conservation too expensive by requiring the relocation of communities
2. They built on the false premise of pristine wilderness and displaced Indigenous peoples from landscapes that were actually their home and which they had managed
3. They prioritised animal welfare over human welfare without scientific justification
4. They prevented the economic development of natural resources that poorer countries needed

Q5. The concept of ‘biocultural diversity’ holds that:

1. Biological diversity can only be protected by removing all human activity from natural areas
2. Ecological health and cultural diversity are intertwined, and Indigenous land management practices have often been more sustainable than replacement regimes
3. The diversity of ecosystems depends on the number of different biological species they contain
4. Cultural practices should be preserved in museums while natural landscapes are managed by scientific experts

Q6. Which of the following conclusions is most directly supported by the passage?

1. European colonisation was uniquely destructive compared to other historical patterns of conquest
2. All protected natural areas should be immediately returned to Indigenous communities without conditions
3. Restoring ecosystems may require restoring the communities and practices that maintained them, rather than simply removing humans from the land
4. The best way to preserve wilderness is through a combination of scientific management and ecotourism