Let’s Do It for Real: Making the Ecosystem Service Concept Operational in Regional Planning for Climate Change Adaptation
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsReviewer comments: Longo et al (Manuscript ID: sustainability-2791257)
This is a well written manuscript on a very important topical issue of climate change adaptation and of course the uptake of science by decision/policy makers. I only have minor comments listed below for the authors.
Minor comments
Line 117. Table 1. Glossary. The caption is not very informative. Should be integrated/referenced in the introduction and elsewhere necessary.
Line 117. In Table 1, the “Term” and 1st line /sentence of the “Definition” should be in the same line/row to make it clearer.
Line 117. Delete “See sections….” in the Table of Glossary. The text should reference the Table
Line 120. Delete (Figure 1Error! Reference source not found.)
Line 134. Delete total, the sentence should read …with an average of around 12-13oC
Line 148. Delete Figure in Figure Figure 2
Line 149 Table number missing, probably Table 2
Line 152. Delete “based on the following……systems. This is already defined in Table 1
Line 184. Replace “See Table X” with “Table X”
Line 189. Replace “Figure Figure 3 presents an overview of the described structure” with Figure 3
Line 204. What do the arrows between the four boxes of steps in Figure 3 mean?
Line 193. Rephrase to “Finally, Step 4 finally assesses the climate preparedness of the individual landscape areas by each impacted sector (subsection 3.4).
Line 214, 443. Delete Table
Line 220. ES 219 such as carbon sequestration and storage or air quality regulation are thus excluded as 220 related to the mitigation side, hence they are not ESCCAfrom ESCCA as they are related to the mitigation of climate change.
Lines 271, 278, 314, 375. Table X?
Line 317, 360, 442, 443, 449. Delete Figure
Line 435-437. OneFor example, are the impacts of increased drought, intensification of the hydrological cycle and decreased water availability, are all served by the 2.2.2.1 Hydrological cycle and water flow maintenance.
Line 585. The effectiveness and of the matrix and the actuality of its content can be improved by consulting literature focused on the analysis of a few services and their links to the ecosystems by which they are supplied.
Line 621. It represents an opportunity to address other important issues, such as the transition to sustainabledirty/ nonrenewable energy sources, air and soil pollution, social inequalities, and depopulationoverpopulation.
Line 623. Replace “Objectives” with “Issues”
References
Some references are wrongly numbers so please check the whole document.
Examples:
Line 66. Wei & Zhan [26]; Correct number in the reference section is [24]
Line 69. Bitonn et al [25]; Correct number in the reference section is [26]
Main concern
My main concern with the study is with Figure 4, the links between ESCCA and land cover classes. For instance, I don’t understand while rice fields are associated with one ESCCA (i.e., pest control)? I think flood protection as well as decomposition and fixing processes are also important unless if this analysis reflects the reality of the situation on the ground in FVG region.
See Sujono J. 2010. Flood reduction function of paddy rice fields under different water saving irrigation techniques. Journal of Water Resource & Protection 2(6). DOI: 10.42236/jwarp.2010.26063
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for your valuable suggestions. Attached you will find a table with answers to all the reviewers' comments, as in some cases they were linked.
Sincerly,
The authors
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear colleagues,
I'm glad that I had the opportunity to read a material that addresses a very topical topic. The article can be published in its current form, but to increase the quality of the manuscript, I recommend adding the answer to the following question at the end of the conclusions:
What can you tell us about the follow up?
Sincerely,
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for your valuable suggestions. Attached you will find a table with answers to all the reviewers' comments, as in some cases they were linked.
Sincerly,
The authors
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
The article presents a very current topic of great interest in academic and professional circles, for practices in territorial planning in the face of global challenges. So, I have no doubts about its importance and that the research was carried out with many studies and measurements. But please consider some improvements to be made to make the presentation better understandable and more useful to readers.
Line 117 - Table 1 – Glossary – organize the presentation so that the terms presented in column on the left are related with the explanation of column on the right. It is quite confusing. And review this table, because it’s presenting a mix of terms with different objectives that may be very confusing. It is important to present the main concepts on paragraphs and discussions.
Line 146 - Figure 01 was important to present the limits and the frontiers, but it is not ok to present the study area. Consider another geovisualization and data.
Line 148 – please clarify the difference of “ambiti di paesaggio” and “unità di paesaggio”. Which of these classifications do you associate with “landscape units”? Can you develop this concept?
This is a key point in the paper: Italian planning is recognized by its qualified laws on territorial and regional planning based on laws that were presented in the first half of the 1900, and had the important law n.431, from 8 of August 1985, Law Galasso. The Galasso law gives the Regional Landscape Plan (PRP) the instruments legislative bodies to be able to directly impose restrictions and binding prescriptions on public and private entities.
So, as you are writing about an Italuan case study and Italy is a reference in working with the concepts of units and scope (ambito and unità), consider it.
Also, there is lack of citations, lack of scientific references on studies about landscape units and about geosystemic approach
Because in your presentation you defend that the use of landscape units are a key point to territorial planning and ES inclusion, as the recognition of homogeneous areas can facilitate spatial planning in terms of proposition are analysis of their impacts.
References to be considered:
1. DONADIEU, Pierre. Scienze del Paesaggio - Tra teorie e pratiche, Collana: Terre e Paesaggi di Confine (2), ETS, 2014.
2. MONTI, Carlo. Gli antefatti. In.: Monti Carlo, Pratelli Alberto; Riguzzi Gabriele, Secondini Piero. Analisi e pianificazione del territorio rurale, Editrice CLUEB, Bologna, 1985.
Line 202 – According to your figure 3 I am understanding that you are working with the geosystemic approach or ecosystem services, that considers provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services. Please, make it clearer. Mention Murray Gray.
GRAY, Murray. Other nature: geodiversity and geosystem services. Environmental Conservation, v. 38, n. 3, September, 2011, p. 271 – 274. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0376892911000117
This is a very geosystemic study, with a clear territorial and geographic approach. But we read to very long discussions presenting numbers but with very few maps. A very small number of maps and products of geovisualization are presented just in the final part of the paper, when some important discussions had already been done.
The graphic part of the paper is not qualified. And the spatial analysis is not clear due to the format you decided to present it.
Your goal was to prove that the “state-of-the-art” on ES and ESCCA could be transformed into a “state-of-the-design” with practices and results. But your paper is presented in a format that the numbers and results and not clear. Please, invest on communication, visual representation and clear information about your work. You developed a very robust and qualified research, but your text must be organized so that it will have the interest from others.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for your valuable suggestions. Attached you will find a table with answers to all the reviewers' comments, as in some cases they were linked.
Sincerly,
The authors
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
