(1) Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places on Earth: people crowd into tiny living spaces, some with only a bed, a hot plate, and a toilet. (2) The city is made up of more than 200 islands, and there is no more available land to house its people. (3) To solve this land shortage problem, officials have proposed a radical solution: creating a whole new island. (4) The East Lantau Metropolis would be built on land reclaimed from the sea and would house 1.1 million people. (5) A different problem faces the people of Kiribati—a nation in the central Pacific Ocean made up of 33 islands (most of which are less than twenty feet above sea level). (6) Because of rising sea levels, some inhabitants have already had to abandon their homes. (7) New islands will have to be built to ensure a safe future for its citizens, because science indicates that Kiribati will go underwater within the century.

(8) Artificial islands have been seen as solutions for a number of problems in recent decades. (9) The city of Dubai has been constructing a luxurious palm-tree-shaped series of islands to house hotels. (10) Osaka, Japan, built an island off its coast to relieve its overcrowded airport. (11) The Maldives, Malaysia, and Seoul have all built or have plans to build artificial islands to expand their territory.

(12) So, is building artificial islands a good solution for modern-day challenges? (13) Not everyone thinks so. (14) Constructing artificial islands destroys the coral reefs that nourish fisheries and protect the coastline from the impact of waves; it also destabilizes precious coastal ecosystems. (15) Building on unstable dredged sediments also endangers human inhabitants, especially in areas prone to earthquakes.

The writer wants to provide relevant support for the claim made in sentences 12 and 13. Which of the following sentences, if added after sentence 13, would most effectively accomplish this goal?

A) According to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s National Tidal Centre, there has been an average sea level rise of 7.3 millimeters a year around low-lying islands like Kiribati in the past few decades.

B)A professor of biology at Old Dominion University, Kent Carpenter, notes that poaching of giant clams does more damage to marine ecosystems than island building does.

C)Marine biologists contend that the urban sprawl spreading into the oceans inevitably causes havoc for marine organisms and their habitats.
Marine biologists contend that the urban sprawl spreading into the oceans inevitably causes havoc for marine organisms and their habitats.

D)The government of South Korea expected to have 300,000 residents in the utopian smart city built on the artificial island of Songdo.

E)Environmental scientists at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, have noted that those building artificial islands can use techniques like silt curtains to help minimize the environmental impact of these projects.