Data from satellite photographs of the tropical rain forest in Melonia show that last year the deforestation rate of ...
ValerieOctober 23, 2016
Why B?
I understand it must be the "alternative cause" type of answer, but how does the heavy rain cause lower deforestation rate? Is it that the rainfall prevented cutting as a bad weather condition for doing that? Because apparently a period on only one year would not allow new trees to grow and increase the forest area. Please explain. Thank you
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@Valerie you are correct that this is a cause & effect argument.
The proposed cause that the author is trying to explain is that "the deforestation rate of this environmentally sensitive zone was significantly lower than in previous years."
The proposed cause? According to the Melonian government, this is a result of the millions of dollars spent last year to enforce laws against burning and cutting of the forest.
You are also correct that (B) is weakening the Melonian govenrment's claim by pointing out an alternative cause, i.e. it wasn't actually the enforcement of laws against burning and cutting of the forest but rather an abnormally heavy rainfall during the usually dry 6-month annual burning season.
So this is alternative cause for the significantly lower deforestation rate, i.e. the abnormally heavy rainfall prevented burning not enforcement of laws against burning.
Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.
ValerieNovember 1, 2016
Lol! Can't believe I could not see it myself! For some reason my attention was focused solely on "cutting". Duh!
