Evaluating the Impact of the Influx of Syrian Refugees on Land Use/Land Cover Change in Irbid District, Northwestern Jordan

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The work is interesting, it provides information on the issue of refugee mobility, especially in Jordan.
The authors use appropriate tools for the analysis. However as for the products:
a) Figure 1 – Bearing in mind that it is an international journal, the layout of the location should be improved. I suggest filling the vector lines of the Irbid district with true images. I justify the improvement of the figure, because when we analyze the other figures, it does not help in the reading of the landscape that is in transformation.
b) The resolution and size of images 4 and 5 can be improved.

About the discussion

Regarding population dynamics, a table corresponding to the years investigated with information on the flow of immigrants and the population of the Irbid district would fit.

References to the Irbid district discussion are based on general documents and not site specific. This does not help to validate the analysis performed. In this sense, it would be appropriate to find references to the information contained in 259 – 260, 261-262.

In line 264, despite the official data being from 2004, wouldn't there be more current data?

The statement of lines 310 – 313 should be in the abstract and in the introduction. Only at the end of the text was the working hypothesis found.

When I finished reading the discussion, the dynamics of land use did not show or did not indicate a general analysis of which areas could be highlighted: where are the highest rates of transformation?

Where on the map is the growth vector? Have the 2021 areas transformed the pastures already occupied in 1985/2004 or expanded new areas over Rangelands?

Author Response

Dear Reviewer: Good day.

We would like to thank you for your constructive criticisms and valuable comments, which raised important issues for improving the manuscript. Accordingly, the revised manuscript has been systematically improved with new information.

In figure 1 – the layout of the location was improved. The vector lines of the Irbid district are filled with Landsat true images. The resolution and size of images 4 and 5 were improved.

Regarding the discussion, we revised the mentioned comments:

1. Regarding population dynamics, a table corresponding to the years investigated with information on the flow of immigrants and the population of the Irbid district would fit.

- According to available data, we have modified the population dynamics in Figure 2 to cover this comment.

2. References to the Irbid district discussion are based on general documents and not site-specific. This does not help to validate the analysis performed. In this sense, it would be appropriate to find references to the information contained in 259 – 260, 261-262.

- We added a reference to the information (RDPFMSC, 2021): Refugees, Displaced Persons, and Forced Migration Studies Center. Successive waves of asylum and immigration to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and their effects during 100 years Report. Yarmouk University. Irbid. Jordan., 2021.

3. In line 264, despite the official data being from 2004, wouldn't there be more current data?

-We added more current data "The number of refugees hosted by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan remained stable at 15% refugees of the total registered population in 2021 (Department of Statistics, 2021)".

4. The statement of lines 310 – 313 should be in the abstract and in the introduction. Only at the end of the text was the working hypothesis found.

-The statement of lines 310 – 313 was added at the end of the introduction

5. When I finished reading the discussion, the dynamics of land use did not show or did not indicate a general analysis of which areas could be highlighted: where are the highest rates of transformation?

-We added description of the land use’ dynamics (lines 235-240)

6. Where on the map is the growth vector? Have the 2021 areas transformed the pastures already occupied in 1985/2004 or expanded new areas over Rangelands?

-This was also indicated in lines 235-240

In the end, we are appreciating your efforts and thank you again.

Best regards

Authors

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper deals with a very timely and significant topic of Syrian crisis and its impact on land use land cover change in regions accepting Syrian refugees. I high regard this aspect. There are some improvements that I suggest the authors should make before publication.  (1) There is no explicit statement of research questions. In the long introduction, contrary to the description of exisiting bodies of knowledge, no specifiction mention is found regarding the gap in knowledge which this paper tries to address. Please write what the research question is and why it is important to answer. (2) In the analysis and dicussion sections, it would be interesting to explore the connections among four land use types. For example, what portion of areas of agriculture were transformed into urban uses, or how much of urban development was made possible by converting bare land and rangelands. (3) In Table 4, the percentage of bare land for 1985-2004 must be -36.74%, not -3674. 

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Good day!

We would like to thank you for your constructive criticisms and valuable comments, which raised important issues for improving the manuscript. Accordingly, the revised manuscript has been systematically improved.

The most of comments and suggestions have been done. Some of the required notes intersect with the requirements of other arbitrators. We tried to modify the manuscript according to your comments by considering these intersections.

(1) There is no explicit statement of research questions. In the long introduction, contrary to the description of existing bodies of knowledge, no specification mentioned is found regarding the gap in knowledge that this paper tries to address. Please write what the research question is and why it is important to answer.

- The research question was included at the end of the introduction in lines 117-121.

(2) In the analysis and discussion sections, it would be interesting to explore the connections among four land use types. For example, what portion of areas of agriculture were transformed into urban uses, or how much of urban development was made possible by converting bare land and rangelands.

- Required has been added in lines 235-240

(3) In Table 4, the percentage of bare land for 1985-2004 must be -36.74%, not -3674.

- It has been revised to -36.74%.

 

In the end, we are appreciating your efforts and thank you again.

Best regards

Authors

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors complied with all the evaluator's requests. The work is ready for publication.