Farmland Abandonment and Afforestation—Socioeconomic and Biophysical Patterns of Land Use Change at the Municipal Level in Galicia, Northwest Spain

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

First, I would like to indicate that, possibly due to significant differences in research paradigms, I do not fully agree with some of the methods used in the paper. Therefore, the following comments are merely questions or suggestions based on the research paradigms I am familiar with, for the reference of the authors and editors.

1.          The topic of the paper is quite interesting and has significant policy implications, providing support for the implementation of local policies.

2.          In the section proposing hypotheses, specifically ".2. Data sources," the author briefly presents preliminary hypotheses. This part is overly simplistic; hypotheses should be based on logical deductions from existing research. I suggest that the author expand this section.

3.          According to the author, the paper addresses three main aspects. First, it analyzes local-level land use/cover changes and their results through municipality classification. Second, it examines whether these land use/cover patterns are related to biophysical constraints and socio-economic variables. Third, it analyzes the role of land ownership structure and the impact of land use/cover patterns on wildfire risk. Below, I will discuss my impressions of these three parts:

(1) I generally agree with and appreciate the handling of the first part.

(2) For the second and third parts, I find serious methodological issues. Specifically, if the author is only discussing and analyzing based on whether median values are significant and simple comparisons of different indicators (if I am not mistaken), the following issues arise: First, can we determine the correlation between variables based solely on significant differences in median values and simple comparison analysis? Second, even if the obtained correlation is appropriate, it only identifies correlations rather than causal relationships. Correlations do not necessarily imply causation, and identifying correlations has limited theoretical and practical significance. Therefore, I suggest that the author further refine the paper to better identify causal relationships, specifically between farmland abandonment and forest fires.

Based on these considerations, I personally recommend that the author improve the two suggestions I have made. For the third part, especially point (2), I recommend that the author further refine the paper. Of course, if the author can provide reasonable explanations, we can discuss further.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

My suggestions are in attached file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf