Read the following passage carefully and answer the question that follows:
In an effort to harmonize climate mitigation with agrarian livelihoods, several regional state development boards have instituted a Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) scheme. Under this framework, smallholder farmers receive direct financial subsidies for transitioning from monoculture cropping to agroforestry systems that integrate native nitrogen-fixing tree species. The policy design relies heavily on remote-sensing satellite telemetry to verify canopy cover growth and estimate biomass carbon sequestration before disbursing annual payments.
However, field audits reveal a critical structural bottleneck: while satellite imagery effectively tracks canopy expansion, it fails to differentiate between newly planted native trees and invasive, fast-growing woody shrubs that deplete deep soil water reserves. Consequently, landowners in arid belts are increasingly allowing invasive species to proliferate unchecked in non-cropped land parcels to trigger automated PES payment thresholds, leading to localized water table depletion and reduced crop yields in adjoining plots. Furthermore, the PES guidelines mandate that financial disbursements be deposited exclusively into individual formal bank accounts linked to land ownership deeds, inadvertently excluding tenant farmers who operate under informal customary land leases and lack documentary proof of landholding.
To rectify these unintended ecological and socio-economic distortions without dismantling the digital verification architecture, policy analysts argue that remote-sensing protocols must be coupled with ground-truthed community bio-monitoring teams, and benefit-sharing mechanisms must be decoupled from formal land title deeds.
Based on the logical implications of the passage, which of the following administrative interventions would be most aligned with the author's recommended reform strategy?
- AReplacing satellite telemetry entirely with manual block-level administrative inspections to verify plant species across all registered farms.
- Instituting village-level bio-monitoring teams to validate tree species on-site alongside satellite data, while enabling tenant farmers to access PES funds via verified cultivator registries.Answer
- CProhibiting the cultivation of native nitrogen-fixing tree species in arid belts to halt localized groundwater table depletion.
- DRestricting PES financial subsidies exclusively to titled landowners who can guarantee monoculture crop yields.