Translating Indigenous Knowledge into Actionable Climate-Change Adaption Strategies: A Case Study of Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality, Free State Province, South Africa
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This paper is about the integration of climate change strategies with indigenous knowledge. The Authors apply an interview-based method to study the young and poorly educated cohort of people living in the Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality, Free State province, South Africa. The topic fits the broad aims of the journal. The argument is presented in a fair way. This Referee has some suggestions for the Authors.
Abstract: the reading is somewhere awkward. The message is understandable, but the style should be dried, simplified, and made more intuitive. Authors are suggested to revise. In line 16, the acronym I.K. should be introduced for the first time by the corresponding full terms.
Section 3.1. The English is awkward and should be made more direct. The reader is not fully clarified on the “descriptive and exploratory research designs” (line 186), or vague quotations in lines 188-9, or the elements reported in the mysterious last sentence in lines 190-3.
Section 3.2 The experimentation is presented very quickly. Sampling is covered, but the reader has no clue on the questions raised and the exact content of the answers. Authors are suggested to integrate properly.
Section 4.1 The interplay between SK, supposed to be sometimes insufficient, and IK is a classic issue. The Authors treat the argument too superficially and are suggested to integrate properly the state of the art to better support their comments on the results. Figure 1 is unbalance versus IK, while the integration between SK and IK should be stressed. Authors are suggested to integrate properly.
Very minor issues
Line 106-7: please check the sentence, at something seems missing.
Line 236: what does KN-based stand for?
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for your comments and the opportunity to revise our paper on ‘Translating indigenous knowledge into actionable climate-change adaption strategies: A case study of Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality, Free State province, South Africa.’ The suggestions offered have been constructive, and we also appreciate your insightful comments on revising the abstract and other aspects of the paper.
I have attached the revised manuscript, indicating exactly how we addressed each concern. All the authors have approved the revisions, and I have again been chosen as the corresponding author. The changes are marked red on the paper, as you requested.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
This is an interesting paper looking at the role of indigenous knowledge in influencing climate change policies. Indigenous knowledge has been a long-standing component of the development literature for years and would have an interesting parallel to the climate change literature. As with development research, local knowledge of a location could help mitigate climate change due to an intimate knowledge of the region. With that in mind, I think the authors could look at parallels in the develop literature to better situate their research in a wider sustainable development academic discourse. I think the authors have a very interesting and useful hypothesis, I think they could add to a larger academic community by engaging with the development and sustainability literature.
In addition, I wonder what role migration has on the declining influence of indigenous knowledge in a community (line 299)? I would think the criticism IK faces in the scientific community is significant, but are portions of that knowledge being lost as people leave a region? I'm not sure if this is an influence, but as a reader, I would curious to see you address this breifly.
Finally, I had two minor editorial comments that substantially influenced te readability of the paper. First, in line 107, the sentence appears to stop suddenly. I'm not sure if this is a file transfer issue or something else. I was confused as I read that section. Second, in line 57, you discuss the asymmetrical nature of the impacts of climate change in developing regions. In this section, you focus on generally personal characteristics. This seems to contradict what you said in line 47-49, when you state the significant influence of rainfed agriculture on the livelihoods of the local population. I don't think one is mutually exclusive of the other. If I was writing this paper, I would simply mention dependency on rainfed agriculture in line 57 also. This would help with the readability.
Overall, I think this is an interesting paper with the potential to significant add to the academic discourse on climate change and sustainable development. I think your approach and methods are appropriate to your research question. I look forward to seeing the development of the paper and wish you the best of luck in your future research.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for your comments and the opportunity to revise our paper on ‘Translating indigenous knowledge into actionable climate-change adaption strategies: A case study of Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality, Free State province, South Africa.’ The suggestions offered have been constructive, and we also appreciate your insightful comments on revising the abstract and other aspects of the paper.
I have attached the revised manuscript, indicating exactly how we addressed each concern. All the authors have approved the revisions, and I have again been chosen as the corresponding author. The changes are marked red on the paper, as you requested.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript is interesting but has serious methodological and conceptual flaws. It lacks reproducibility and it is not clear how the results obtained from the interviews of the 28 respondents were treated.
In my opinion the manuscript is very fragile and biased. If it was only a theoretical approach I think it would make sense but when it proposes to bring data it loses its meaning. In several moments it is not possible to know which sample universe the authors are referring to. Is it the whole population or the sub-samples, or the in-depth sample of 28 people over 40 years old? It is also not possible to know how the data were treated. Note sentences like these... "The study's sample included all community members from Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality (MaPLM)"(lines 186 and 187) (https://municipalities.co.za/demographic/1051/maluti-a-phofung-local-municipality) "All participants expressed concerns about the failure of some scientific-based initiatives to enhance CC adaptation in their communities" (lines 231 and 232). But as I said the approach is very interesting and I quite liked the introduction. But as a scientific paper, that is based on scientific data, it is fragile in the sense that the results seem inaccurate and somewhat biased. Also, at the beginning it is unclear what people's understanding of "climate change" is. Are the perceived changes local or global? Are they changes in climate or in local living conditions. For example, local water shortages due to misuse or pollution of water sources affect the local population. Do people attribute this to CC? They also mention that recommendations based only on "science" are not sufficient and would not bring good results. What would be the "desired outcomes" then? Improved living conditions for local people? Is this possible with increased population? Yes, I agree that poverty needs to be ended and everyone needs to have good living conditions but it is not clear from this manuscript how this could occur. Just considering that IK is always good and that together with science they will solve CC is not enough. Anyway, I believe this is a good theoretical article but the data is very biased and somewhat inaccurate.
But note, my view may also be too narrow and if so you can even disregard my opinion. I attach some comments on the manuscript.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
Thank you for your comments and the opportunity to revise our paper on ‘Translating indigenous knowledge into actionable climate-change adaption strategies: A case study of Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality, Free State province, South Africa.’ The suggestions offered have been constructive, and we also appreciate your insightful comments on revising the abstract and other aspects of the paper.
I have attached the revised manuscript, indicating exactly how we addressed each concern. All the authors have approved the revisions, and I have again been chosen as the corresponding author. The changes are marked red on the paper, as you requested. In lines 332-338, the reviewer's comment is noted and accepted.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
Dear authhor's,
This new version is better.
I also send here my comments on the previous version.
Although the approach is very interesting the results seem biased. At first it is not clear what people's understanding of "climate change" (CC) is. Are the perceived changes local or global? Are they changes in climate or in local living conditions. For example, local water shortages due to misuse or pollution of water sources affect the local population. Do people attribute this to CC?
What would be the 'desired outcomes'? Improved living conditions for local people. Is this possible with increased population?
Furthermore, sampling does not consider "young people" and thinking that humans over 40 years old will solve the problem (CC) is a mistake.
I agree that poverty needs to be ended and everyone needs to have good living conditions but it is not clear from this manuscript how this could occur. Just considering that IK is always "good" and that together with science they will solve CC is not enough.
Anyway, I believe this is a good manuscript.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
