Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. For centuries, the forest has been the lungs of our planet, silently performing the vital work of converting carbon dioxide into the oxygen that sustains all life. Yet today, at a pace that should alarm every thinking person, these forests are disappearing. The Amazon, often called the world's largest rainforest, loses millions of hectares each year to logging companies, cattle ranchers, and subsistence farmers desperate for arable land. In West Africa, the story is no different. Countries that once boasted vast canopies of green have been reduced to dusty plains, their rivers choked with silt, their skies stripped of the clouds that once brought rain. The consequences of deforestation are not confined to the environment alone. When forests vanish, so do the communities that depended on them. Indigenous peoples, whose cultures, medicines, and livelihoods are inseparable from the forest, find themselves dispossessed and adrift. Biodiversity collapses as thousands of plant and animal species lose their habitats. The global climate is destabilised as the carbon stored in trees is released into the atmosphere, accelerating the very warming that scientists have been warning about for decades. Some argue that economic development must take precedence, that a nation cannot feed its people on trees. This argument, while not entirely without merit, presents a false choice. Sustainable forestry, eco-tourism, and the harvesting of non-timber forest products can generate significant revenue while preserving the forest. Countries like Costa Rica have demonstrated that conservation and economic prosperity are not mutually exclusive. The real obstacle is not a lack of alternatives but a lack of political will and the unchecked greed of corporations that profit from destruction. The time for half-measures has passed. Governments must enact and enforce stringent laws against illegal logging. International bodies must ensure that wealthy nations, which consumed the world's resources during their own industrialisation, contribute generously to forest conservation funds. Citizens everywhere must demand accountability from both their governments and the corporations they patronise. The forest does not belong to any one generation; it is a trust held for those who are yet to come. (a) (i) What does the writer mean by describing the forest as 'the lungs of our planet'? [2 marks] (ii) Identify TWO human activities the writer mentions as causes of deforestation in the Amazon. [2 marks] (b) In your own words, explain the writer's response to those who argue that economic development must come before forest conservation. [4 marks] (c) What, according to the writer, must each of the following do to address deforestation? (i) Governments [2 marks] (ii) International bodies [2 marks] (iii) Citizens [2 marks] (d) For each of the following words as used in the passage, provide ONE word or phrase that is closest in meaning: (i) stringent [1 mark] (ii) dispossessed [1 mark] (iii) precedence [1 mark] (iv) adrift [1 mark] (v) mutually exclusive [2 marks]