Adaptation to Climate Change: Does Traditional Ecological Knowledge Hold the Key?

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Consider using “Indigenous” capitalized throughout rather than “indigenous” – it helps to associate Native peoples as compared to native species

50 Many Indigenous communities also create their own definition because the confines of western Science applications do not meet the high standard for the complexity of their cultural knowledge systems.

60 You might want to explain why this has occurred for those who do not know background information about this occurrence

71 I would suggest saying this along the lines of "Many western academics and non-Indigenous authors" because most Native authors are holistic by nature as part of their cultural traditional belief systems that are inherently interconnected

86 length of time for these TEK documentations is missing here

131 how often would be helpful “regularly” -? “occasionally”? Give sit context that they are in touch with their TEK cultural practices

120-167 very nice job explaining who they Peoples are, their lifestyles, and overall descriptions – gives a nice background for the paper to give an idea of who these groups are

169-178 Nice job explaining how the study was set up, analyzed, and the hierarchy of contact

227 indicators not longer use – for how long has this been occurring, and are these accounts still held onto for TEK background information or discarded entirely until prompted for?

229 Suggest change: “This relates to the issue of climate change” to “These indicators and adaptations all point to climate change issues directly impacting these Indigenous groups.”

233 adding ”during that time/part of the day” at the end of the sentence would help clarify about morning mists.

240 “causing significant losses.” Expanding on what type of losses (financial? Agricultural? Nutritional? Cultural?) helps other readers who are in disconnect with Indigenous culture better understand the gravity of such a loss and why it is not as simple as replacing it, or running to the local market.

262 “age old faming…” I am left wondering if there are cultural elements of this as well that are not described -?

271 nice succinct explanation of shifting – most westerners will not have an idea of what this entails otherwise

Nice use of outlining which techniques each community used and which overlapped

293 excellent description of the paddy store, and how vital it is to the communities

304 suggestion – change “The community values ‘kills only enough for food’ and ‘take only what you need’ have also become the basis of preservation behaviour to avoid over-hunting, thus ensuring an abundant food supply in the future.”

To

The community applied value practices of ‘kill only enough for food’ and ‘take only what you need’ have also become the basis of preservation behaviour to avoid over-hunting, thus ensuring an abundant food supply in the future.”

344 – clarify “church” – is there one or more than one, and is it based on strict religious tenets or infused with cultural adherences (as it sounds like it is with the food sharing and reliance during difficulties) Likewise: Sunday Mass (only Catholicism there, or ?)

354: “From a traditional worldview, the natural world is part of their lives and this interconnectedness creates a

Suggestion; “From their traditional worldview, the natural world is one aspect of …”

394 ” Our work also revealed that traditional strategies for managing the land and resources were the results of attempts to adapt to environmental stressors and uncertainties. Interestingly, this management system is consistent with the concept of adaptive management [8,66,67], an approach used to manage natural resources in the face of uncertainty [68].”

Nicely stated

413 I really like this statement as written, but add in/clarify well being to who(m)? “In this regard, the recognition of the collective rights to indigenous lands, territories and resources will support well-being (of ?) and tackle climate change [74]. “ Helps frame it to the audience

441 YES! EXCELLENT (and true!!) statement “However, the severity of global warming has resulted in an urgent need to include TEK in climate change initiatives.”

464 excellently articulated points in this paragraph

I really like how this paper is structured and presented. It is a nice snapshot of TEK in this region that does not get enough attention to assist the Indigenous Peoples there.

Consider looking for Indigneous scholars /researchers in that area who may not be using the term "TEK" but something different. SK Hong has done research with Indonesia under "biodiversity" but includes the tenets and aspects of TEK for example  

I did not see the mention of the important role of culture and how culture is a vital foundational aspect of TEK itself – you mention culture and clan systems, however it would have been nice to see it acknowledged at the very beginning. TEK is rife with misunderstandings, and cultural adherences to the practices and underlying belief systems often formulate what TEK “looks like” and/or how it is applied such as the cases that were mentioned regarding only take what is needed, preventing overharvesting of resources. If you chose not to look at it from a cultural lens, you might consider just adding a sentence that states while you acknowledge the cultures as a whole, you did not focus on the cultural aspects that TEK presents/brings with it, and chose these other aspects because you felt they were more vital to this study.

I would encourage you to add in the aspect about culture being a component of TEK however, because there are instances where "TEK studies" are being conducted and Indigenous groups are exploited by "researchers" who have no clue about cultural parameters or the integration of culture in TEK, so it needs to be repeated and stressed - especially in a good paper like this where you went about it from a culturally appropriate framework and study design. It helps protect other Indigenous peoples, and sets a standard for faulty/ignorant/unskilled "researchers".

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

This article is quite remarkable. It is very-well structured and very well written in English (there is a small number of minor errors in the English which can be corrected, for instance, by the staff member in charge of preparing the manuscript for publication, or even by the authors after a careful read-through. (Some journals for which I undertake article reviews regularly use documents based on Word which allows the English (or French) to be verified very quickly - a 20 page article for instance usually does not take me more that 10 minutes to verfiy the spelling and the punctuation of the article.

The approach in the research upon which this article is based is quite remarkable because it provides very useful and practical results. This type of approach needs to be repeted in other countries and territories. It demonstrates the value of indigenous knowledge and, in effect, on a broader scale on the importance of also recognizing the knowledge of citizens generally.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf