Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture as a Tool for Food Security and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: The Case of Mestre
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The article entitled ”Urban and peri-urban agriculture as a tool for food security and climate change mitigation and adaptation. The case of Mestre.” is a very interesting study expanding the possibilities for sustainable development in urban areas and food security in the future.
However, the presented manuscript requires some corrections. In the introduction the authors explain the impact of the Urban Heat Island (UHI), but there is no clear description or references of this phenomena in the study area. Authors should better assess the literature on urban climate, in particular the papers for the study area.
I suggest that the article be accepted in "Sustainability" after making the major revision.
Some detailed comments have been made to improve the manuscript.
My comments are as follows:
Materials and Methods:
Include References for demographic data
Urban centers are heavily polluted, are there methods to ensure food quality and safety? Include References.
Figure 1 is too small
Is it legal or sustainable to convert public green areas or urban gardens into agricultural areas?
Use superscript for ”m2” and subscript for ”CO2”
Figure 2 has no reference in text
The first paragraph from ”2.3 Productivity and consumption scenarios” subchapter should be moved to the introduction with a climate description.
The ”2.4 Climate change scenarios” is not about climate change scenarios
Results
In table 3 what ”gg” mean?
Please add the source for data from the national measuring station (link and access date). Include in References.
There are no references or measurements that can validate those estimated reduction of air temperature values within 2°C. Include more references.
The figures in general are not clear. Please try to improve them. Some maps need to be improved, especially the legends
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper is interesting and valuable. The title and abstract are appropriate for the content of the text.
The paper presents an important topic especially given the ongoing increase in loss of agricultural land due to urban expansion. UPA is found to play a critical role in sustainable urban development, as it has potential benefits for food security and climate change mitigation. Consequently, empirical evidence to establish the link between UPA, food security and climate change is necessary. This therefore, places the study within the remit of sustainability journal, and without reservation, I recommend this paper for publication.
First, using a GIS base approach and scenarios the authors identified available and suitable urban space for agricultural production in the mainland city of Venice (Italy). With the use of scenarios, the authors estimated the horticulture yield and went further to estimate the food consumption for the population.
The authors made a significant effort to estimate the CO2 reduction and sequestration and climate change adaptation like Urban Flooding and Urban Heat Island reduction for the new areas. Despite the rather small spatial extent and less detailed database of the study, I find the paper as an additional contribution to UPA literature.
However, there are some minor grammatical errors that need to be corrected.
Page 3 Line 6 should be revised
Page 3 Line 26 should be revised
Page 3 line 31 the ‘first’ before peri-urban may not be necessary.
Page 9, last paragraph the word ‘vegetal’ should be corrected
Page 12 line 3 add –ing to support.
Page 11 the sentence ‘All this demonstrates that UPA multifunctionality has a great potential that up to now it has yet to be explored and studied.’ should be revised
Page 12 line 38-42 is too long to keep up with the meaning, therefore should be reconstructed.
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Is a very interesting study! Congratulations
Comments for author File: Comments.docx
