Collaborative Adaptive Stewardship for Invasive Alien Plants Management in South Africa

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Rawat et al  examined the knowledge on Collaborative Adaptive Stewardship (CASt) to advance invasive alien plants (IAPs) management, an concept encourages private landowners and other stakeholders to participate in the management and action processes.

The manuscript is lacking line number, therefore is hard to point out lines.

There are different fonts and style through the manuscript, why hasn't this manuscript received a basic layouting?

The work presents value as in managemental and social remarks, bringing a good contribution to the field. 

Introduction 

It's well stated but a bit more data regarding invasive species is needed as well as their management and survey. I recommend citing authors that evaluated such potential loss due to IAP [1] either at introduction or at chapter 3.

2. Methodology

3. The History of Invasive Alien Plants (IAPs) and the Working for Water (WfW) Programme

Please briefly state the invasive species in question, which ones were introduced and by whom.

"However, in order to make this strategy operational, a mechanism is required like joint forest management of India" please provide further details.

"this strategy has received little attention to date." state the current progress of the mentioned program strategy  

6.3.3. Motivational Tools

This section is a bit unclear, please specify which are these, clearly.

6.4. Monitoring and Evaluation

"Furthermore, the Water Information Management System (WIMS) database is inaccurate and ineffective" state the reason why, is it not up to date to the current standards? [2].

 

References

1. Negrea, B.-M.; Stoilov-Linu, V.; Pop, C.-E.; Deák, G.; Crăciun, N.; Făgăraș, M.M. Expansion of the Invasive Plant Species Reynoutria japonica Houtt in the Upper Bistrița Mountain River Basin with a Calculus on the Productive Potential of a Mountain Meadow. Sustainability 2022, 14, 5737. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095737

2. Wang, F. (2021). Water Resources Information Management System Based on Agent Model. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, 2066(1), 012036. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2066/1/012036

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 1 Comments

Rawat et al examined the knowledge on Collaborative Adaptive Stewardship (CASt) to advance invasive alien plants (IAPs) management, an concept encourages private landowners and other stakeholders to participate in the management and action processes.

The manuscript is lacking line number, therefore is hard to point out lines.

There are different fonts and style through the manuscript, why hasn't this manuscript received a basic layouting?

The work presents value as in managemental and social remarks, bringing a good contribution to the field. 

Introduction 

It's well stated but a bit more data regarding invasive species is needed as well as their management and survey. I recommend citing authors that evaluated such potential loss due to IAP [1] either at introduction or at chapter 3.

Response: Firstly, thank you so much to honourable reviewer for your precious time in reviewing our paper and providing constructive comments to improve the quality of the manuscript. Text on invasive plants have been added in the introduction section and suggested citation are also added.

L-44-48-The ecosystems are dire due to the destruction and suppression of native species (flora and fauna), which further increased the risks (e.g., fire and flood risks), affected ecosystem services (e.g., water) and nature conservation [8-12]. The surveys were made in the different provinces of South Africa (such as KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Eastern Cape and Western Cape), during the surveys, the information on the status and extent of the spread of IAPs were recorded and observed.

2. Methodology
3. The History of Invasive Alien Plants (IAPs) and the Working for Water (WfW) Programme

Please briefly state the invasive species in question, which ones were introduced and by whom.

Response: L123-125-In the past, during the colonial period, a large number of invasive alien plants (i.e., Acacia, Eucalyptus and Pines) were introduced purposely and accidentally by the European settlers into South Africa for various purposes [2,6,26,29].

"However, in order to make this strategy operational, a mechanism is required like joint forest management of India" please provide further details.

Response: L184-188- However, in order to make this strategy operational, a mechanism is required like Joint Forest Management (JFM) of India. Joint Forest Management was a collaborative and coordinated approach among different stakeholders (e.g., state forest departments and local communities) for sustainable forest management, soil and water conservation, rehabilitation of degraded lands, safeguarding biodiversity and forest ecosystem management, and livelihood enhancement [43].

"this strategy has received little attention to date." state the current progress of the mentioned program strategy 

Response: L265-270- Due to the difficulty in involvement, connection development, and the country's complicated socio-cultural set up [47], this strategy has received a little attention to date due to the difficulty in measuring the social and ecological impacts [53]. However, currently, several private landowners have entered into stewardship agreements [7]. Effective legislation and policy interventions are needed in order to make land users more responsible for the management of IAPs in South Africa.

6.3.3. Motivational Tools

This section is a bit unclear, please specify which are these, clearly.

Response: L360-368- The WfW Programme currently offers landowners incentives and technical assistance. There are financial (e.g., income tax deductions, property rates exclusions and rate rebates) and motivational (e.g., extension services, education, awareness, information, skill development and capacity building programme) incentives to enter into biodiversity stewardship agreements (e.g., for IAPs management, soil and water conservation)[5, 30]. Alternatively, it is mandatory by laws to manage the IAPs in their property. Subsequently, if the landowner who do not comply with the law, may be required to manage IAPs without the incentives provided by the WfW Programme.

6.4. Monitoring and Evaluation

"Furthermore, the Water Information Management System (WIMS) database is inaccurate and ineffective" state the reason why, is it not up to date to the current standards? [2].

Response:L436-440- Data management, updates, available resources, and information on clearings are all lacking in the programme [25]. Furthermore, the Water Information Management System (WIMS) database is inaccurate and ineffective due to lacks in data and accuracy, skills and training, data capture and quality assurance, reporting and data supply. The heterogeneous distribution and complex processing of the data is another problem [65].

References

1. Negrea, B.-M.; Stoilov-Linu, V.; Pop, C.-E.; Deák, G.; Crăciun, N.; Făgăraș, M.M. Expansion of the Invasive Plant Species Reynoutria japonica Houtt in the Upper Bistrița Mountain River Basin with a Calculus on the Productive Potential of a Mountain Meadow. Sustainability 2022, 14, 5737. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095737
2. Wang, F. Water Resources Information Management System Based on Agent Model. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2021, 2066(1), 012036. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2066/1/012036

Response: Thank you so much for providing the references, which have been cited in the text.

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript, "Collaborative Adaptive Stewardship for Invasive Alien Plants Management in South Africa," for review.

While I appreciate the relevance of your study to the management of invasive alien plants (IAPs) in South Africa, I regret to inform you that I cannot accept the article in its current form.

My main concern is the methodology section, which currently lacks the necessary details for readers to fully understand your approach and methods. The methodology section should provide a clear and comprehensive explanation of the study design, including the literature review process, search strategy, inclusion criteria, and data analysis methods.

I also found that the ideas presented in the paper were often vague and not well-supported by the available literature. I recommend that you provide a more detailed explanation of the concepts and key themes presented in the paper, including relevant citations and references.

In light of these concerns, I strongly encourage you to revise the manuscript to address the issues mentioned above. A more detailed methodology section, with clear explanations of your study design and data analysis methods, will greatly improve the quality and rigor of your study.

I look forward to reviewing your revised manuscript.

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 2 Comments

 

Dear authors,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript, "Collaborative Adaptive Stewardship for Invasive Alien Plants Management in South Africa," for review.

While I appreciate the relevance of your study to the management of invasive alien plants (IAPs) in South Africa, I regret to inform you that I cannot accept the article in its current form.

Response: Firstly, we would like to thank you so much to honourable reviewer for your precious time in reviewing our paper and providing constructive comments to improve the quality of the manuscript. We have tried our best to address the comments given to improve the quality of the Ms.

My main concern is the methodology section, which currently lacks the necessary details for readers to fully understand your approach and methods. The methodology section should provide a clear and comprehensive explanation of the study design, including the literature review process, search strategy, inclusion criteria, and data analysis methods.

Response: Agreed, the methodological section has been improved now.

The methodological approach was categorized as study design, search strategy, literature review process, inclusion criteria and data analysis. The study was designed to examine the knowledge base on Collaborative Adaptive Stewardship (CASt) to advance IAPs management in South Africa. The themes of the study were setup such as history of IAPs management and the WfW Programme, challenges in IAPs management, the CASt and a framework to advance IAPs management. The potential knowledge gaps were identified that evidence-based studies addresses, which helped support the theoretical foundation of the study. The present study is a review that resulted in the development and integration of a framework for IAPs management while operationalizing collaborative adaptive stewardship in South Africa. The geographical demarcation of the research area was within South Africa [5].

In the search strategy, the available literature on collaborative adaptive stewardship for IAPs management in South Africa and abroad was analyzed and reviewed. For searching the literature, keywords like invasive alien plant management, invasive alien plants, invasive species, biological invasion, participatory management, private landowners, Working for Water Programme, legislation, biodiversity conservation, monitoring and evaluation, control methods, South Africa, stakeholder participation, criteria and indicators, learning and adaptive management, and co-management were prepared and used for literature search.In order to explore the pillars of collaborative adaptive stewardship for IAPs management in South Africa, the literature was surveyed across disciplines. Grey literature (archived from government and private office repositories) and publication databases were employed as sources of information. Academic papers, government reports, books, book chapters, and proceedings are among the literature sources searched systematically through Google Scholar, ResearchGate, Web of Science, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and SpringerLink.

The review process included examining the knowledge base, identifying the gaps, the trends and patterns on the subject, gathering empirical findings and perspectives to support evidence-based practice, and identifying topics requiring more investigation. In the literature review process, keywords and abstracts from the database's literature were matched. A total 319 full text publication were downloaded, the relevant research papers and reports were screened for the analysis and purpose of the study. In inclusion criteria, the full-text publications (e.g., empirical studies or conceptual papers) relevant to the current investigation were downloaded for those keywords that had a better match. Visually scanned, extensively reviewed, analyzed, synthesized, and integrated into this review were documents from both grey literature and publishing databases. Out of 319, merely 193 articles met the criteria and their data were extracted manually into a database. A decision were made about the scientific quality and suitability of selected literature to be considered in the review. The literature review was supported with first-hand experience of IAPs management and sustainable biodiversity stewardship practices gained from personal observations, stakeholder engagement and consultations. The data were extracted, analyzed and synthesized. Valid information were extracted from each selected studies to advancing the knowledge and facilitating the theory development for the present study. The types of data were used primarily depends on the objectives of the study, the research design and methods, qualitative and quantitative results, respectively. Finally, in the analyzing and synthesizing process, the empirical findings and perspectives were collated, reviewed, interpreted, organized and compared the evidence extracted from each selected studies. The extracted data were presented in a meaningful manner, thereby contribute to the management of IAPs in South Africa.

I also found that the ideas presented in the paper were often vague and not well-supported by the available literature. I recommend that you provide a more detailed explanation of the concepts and key themes presented in the paper, including relevant citations and references.

Response: Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions, authors have tried their best to address the comment and incorporated in the Ms to improve it further.

In light of these concerns, I strongly encourage you to revise the manuscript to address the issues mentioned above. A more detailed methodology section, with clear explanations of your study design and data analysis methods, will greatly improve the quality and rigor of your study.

I look forward to reviewing your revised manuscript.

 

Reviewer 3 Report

The review deals with recent knowledge of invasive alien plants and the Collaborative Adaptive Stewardship (CASt) concept in Soth Africa. The authors provide an overall explanation for this important topic.  

No further changes. 

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 3 Comments

The review deals with recent knowledge of invasive alien plants and the Collaborative Adaptive Stewardship (CASt) concept in South Africa. The authors provide an overall explanation for this important topic.  

No further changes. 

Response: We would like to thank you so much to honourable reviewer for your precious time in reviewing our paper and greatly appreciate your decision on the Ms.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors have improved their work significantly. Only minor issues have remain such as layout and english.

Author Response

Response to the comments of  the reviewers

Reviewer-1 The authors have improved their work significantly. Only minor issues have remain such as layout and english.

Response- Thank you so much for your constructive comments. The comments have been incorporated. 

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you for submitting the revised version of your manuscript, "Collaborative Adaptive Stewardship for Invasive Alien Plants Management in South Africa," and for addressing the concerns raised in the previous review. I have reviewed the revised manuscript and have no further comments.

Based on the revisions you have made, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept your manuscript in its current form for publication.

Thank you for your submission and for your attention to detail in revising the manuscript. We look forward to publishing your work in our journal.

Author Response

Response to the comments of  the reviewers

Reviewer-2 Thank you for submitting the revised version of your manuscript, "Collaborative Adaptive Stewardship for Invasive Alien Plants Management in South Africa," and for addressing the concerns raised in the previous review. I have reviewed the revised manuscript and have no further comments.

Based on the revisions you have made, I am pleased to inform you that I can accept your manuscript in its current form for publication.

Thank you for your submission and for your attention to detail in revising the manuscript. We look forward to publishing your work in our journal.

Response- Thank you so much for your constructive comments. The comments have been incorporated.