Review Reports - The Contribution of Local Agents and Citizens to Sustainable Development: The Portuguese Experience

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Dear Authors,

Please find below and attached my comments and suggestions for your work.

Good luck!

Kind regards,

The Reviewer

Review Report Form

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Journal: Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050)

Manuscript ID: sustainability-1951292

Type: Article

Title: The Contribution of Local Agents and Citizens to Sustainable Development: The Portuguese Experience

Authors: Fernando Almeida *

Submission Date: 19 September 2022

Dear Authors,

I have carefully analyzed your article entitled “The Contribution of Local Agents and Citizens to Sustainable Development: The Portuguese Experience”.

Congratulations for your work and valuable insights reflected in the content of the manuscript!

The structure of my Review Report Form takes into consideration two sections, namely: (A.) General overview of the article and strong points; and (B) Suggestions meant to improve your current manuscript.

(A.) General overview of the article and strong points:

Ø General background of the study: The authors have mentioned that the achievement of the 2030 Agenda implies a shared responsibility in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Also, local government – namely, municipalities – seem to be closer to citizens and therefore better placed to respond to the needs of each region.

Ø Aim of the study: The authors have mentioned that this study seeks to explore initiatives launched by civil society, businesses, and local organizations in the context of each municipality in Portugal to address the sustainable development goals established in the 2030 Agenda.

Ø Methodology: The authors have mentioned that this study used mixed methods in order to understand the quantitative impact of initiatives in the territories and the inherent characteristics of each project are explored qualitatively.

Ø Results of the study: In terms of the results of this current study, it ought to be mentioned that that the authors found that there are significant asymmetries in the number of projects in the Portuguese regions and there is a moderate positive correlation between the number of projects and the municipality's population density and GDP. Also, it was also found that the projects focus mainly on areas such as SDG1, SDG1, SDG11, and SDG13. In continuation, the projects are characterized mainly by offering platforms for collaborative work among the various stakeholders and seek to meet the challenges of combating social exclusion and supporting environmental education. Furthermore, this study offers implications above all for local agents to work in networks and establish synergies between projects that may lead to greater territorial coverage and contribute to reducing the socio-economic asymmetries that exist in the country.

(B) Suggestions meant to improve your current manuscript:

Distinguished Authors I would kindly like to suggest the following aspects:

(1.) Closely analyzing the article, since there are some English language improvements and slight corrections that need to be taken care of. Thus, my recommendation would be to carefully proofread the entire manuscript.

(2.) Also, I have closely analyzed the format of the article, in order to check whether it follows the guidelines which are specific to the publisher. Thus, I have noticed that the current form of your work needs improvement in this regard. So, my kind suggestion is to closely analyze again the guidelines belonging to the publisher, since the article should fit exactly the publisher’s guidelines. For instance, the keywords, the subsections, the references, currently do not fit the style and the requirements of the publisher. Also, it would be highly recommendable to include in the abstract of your study more highly relevant details that refer to the research objectives and the methodology used. This would definitely be considered a plus for your scientific work.

(3.) In continuation, the suggestion would also be inserting in your article a few ideas concerning the correlation between effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the COVID-19 global crisis, sustainability and sustainability assessment, Sustainable Development Goals, while focusing on the contribution of local agents and citizens to Sustainable Development, since these are key focuses these days. In this context, I had the chance to read a few interesting scientific works recently, among which I would like to mention: Measuring Progress Towards the Sustainable Development Goals: Creativity, Intellectual Capital, and Innovation. In C. Popescu (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Novel Practices and Current Successes in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 125-136). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-8426-2.ch006; OECD. Measuring the Impacts of Business on Well-Being and Sustainability. https://www.oecd.org/statistics/Measuring-impacts-of-business-on-well-being.pdf; OECD. 2022. Toward sustainable economic development through promoting and enabling responsible business conduct. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/f7813858-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/f7813858-en.

Dear Authors, congratulations once again for your work and valuable insights reflected in the content of the manuscript, and I hope my comments will be of value to you!

Kind regards,

The Reviewer

Partea inferioară a machetei

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

We appreciate the review suggestions and comments received by the reviewer. These elements are key to improving the final quality of the manuscript. Below we respond to each issue raised.

Review #1

I have carefully analyzed your article entitled “The Contribution of Local Agents and Citizens to Sustainable Development: The Portuguese Experience”.

Congratulations for your work and valuable insights reflected in the content of the manuscript!

(A.) General overview of the article and strong points:

- General background of the study: The authors have mentioned that the achievement of the 2030 Agenda implies a shared responsibility in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Also, local government – namely, municipalities – seem to be closer to citizens and therefore better placed to respond to the needs of each region.

- Aim of the study: The authors have mentioned that this study seeks to explore initiatives launched by civil society, businesses, and local organizations in the context of each municipality in Portugal to address the sustainable development goals established in the 2030 Agenda.

- Methodology: The authors have mentioned that this study used mixed methods in order to understand the quantitative impact of initiatives in the territories and the inherent characteristics of each project are explored qualitatively.

- Results of the study: In terms of the results of this current study, it ought to be mentioned that that the authors found that there are significant asymmetries in the number of projects in the Portuguese regions and there is a moderate positive correlation between the number of projects and the municipality's population density and GDP. Also, it was also found that the projects focus mainly on areas such as SDG1, SDG1, SDG11, and SDG13. In continuation, the projects are characterized mainly by offering platforms for collaborative work among the various stakeholders and seek to meet the challenges of combating social exclusion and supporting environmental education. Furthermore, this study offers implications above all for local agents to work in networks and establish synergies between projects that may lead to greater territorial coverage and contribute to reducing the socio-economic asymmetries that exist in the country.

Author’s response: Thank you very much for your great overview regarding the strong points offered by this study.

(B) Suggestions meant to improve your current manuscript:

Distinguished Authors I would kindly like to suggest the following aspects:

Author’s response: Thanks for your suggestion. We have proofread the entire manuscript to correct some grammar and formatting errors.

Author’s response: Thanks for these two suggestions. We have checked the Sustainability template and implemented the requested changes in the manuscript. After that, we have followed your suggestion and improved the abstract. We have clarified the research goals and the adopted methodology.

(3.) In continuation, the suggestion would also be inserting in your article a few ideas concerning the correlation between effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the COVID-19 global crisis, sustainability and sustainability assessment, Sustainable Development Goals, while focusing on the contribution of local agents and citizens to Sustainable Development, since these are key focuses these days. In this context, I had the chance to read a few interesting scientific works recently, among which I would like to mention: Measuring Progress Towards the Sustainable Development Goals: Creativity, Intellectual Capital, and Innovation. In C. Popescu (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Novel Practices and Current Successes in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (pp. 125-136). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-8426-2.ch006; OECD. Measuring the Impacts of Business on Well-Being and Sustainability. https://www.oecd.org/statistics/Measuring-impacts-of-business-on-well-being.pdf; OECD. 2022. Toward sustainable economic development through promoting and enabling responsible business conduct. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/f7813858-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/f7813858-en.

Dear Authors, congratulations once again for your work and valuable insights reflected in the content of the manuscript, and I hope my comments will be of value to you!

Author’s response: Thanks for your suggestion to better discuss the relevance of the findings considering the context of global crisis and COVID-19. We have improved the Discussion section to address the relevance of this phenomenon and we have included the following new references to support this discussion:

Popescu, C. R. Measuring Progress Towards the Sustainable Development Goals: Creativity, Intellectual Capital, and Innova-tion. In C. Popescu (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Novel Practices and Current Successes in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals; IGI Global: Hershey, PA, 2021, pp. 125-136. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-8426-2.ch006

Measuring business impacts on people’s well-being and sustainability. Available online: https://www.oecd.org/fr/investissement/measuring-business-impacts-on-peoples-well-being.htm (accessed on 2 October 2022).

Almeida, F. The role of tech startups in the fight against COVID-19. World J. Sci. Tech. Sust. Dev. 2020, 18, 65-75. https://doi.org/10.1108/WJSTSD-04-2020-0030

Strielkowski, W.; Zenchenko, S.; Tarasova, A.; Radyukova, Y. Management of Smart and Sustainable Cities in the Post-COVID-19 Era: Lessons and Implications. Sustainability 2022, 14, 7267. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14127267

Reviewer 2 Report

I like the overview provided by the paper of the SDG activity in regions. It creates some questions in my mind:

I am wondering if the asymmetric that is documented has a relation to closeness or involvement of universities? Or if it relates to known sun-cultures in the regions? What's are possible causes for the asymmetric distribution?

I assume that we can find a similar asymmetric distribution in most or all European countries. It could be nice with some comments on relevance of this study in a broader context in Final remarks or earlier.

Author Response

We appreciate the review suggestions and comments received by the reviewer. These elements are key to improving the final quality of the manuscript. Below we respond to each issue raised.

Review #2

I like the overview provided by the paper of the SDG activity in regions. It creates some questions in my mind.

Author’s response: Thank you very much for your positive feedback regarding the relevance of this study. We are glad to answer your questions and improvements suggestions in the next points.

Author’s response: Thank you very much for your suggestion and raised questions. This is a very interesting question and we have addressed it in the Discussion of the results. Although the inland territories of Portugal are served by universities, the lower population density of these territories makes it more difficult to create a collaborative network among citizens and hinders the emergence of bottom-up initiatives. In addition, it must be recognized that these universities have difficulties in attracting students and many of their places remain unfilled.

Author’s response: We have addressed this recommendation inf the “Final remarks” section. We agree with this reviewer, and we recognize that it is expected that asymmetries may arise in most European countries and the approach taken in this study can be replicated for other countries, where researchers can also explore in more depth the causes that explain the emergence of these asymmetries.

Reviewer 3 Report

Dear authors

Thank you for the effort you put into this paper. The paper is important and contemporary, but I have some concerns about it, so I recommend making the following amendments:

* Clarify the types of sustainability in literature reviews.

* Where are the hypotheses in this research?

* Adding the methodology to the research and determining the method that was used.

* of advanced statistical methods.

* Discuss the results in a more professional manner.

Best Regards

Author Response

We appreciate the review suggestions and comments received by the reviewer. These elements are key to improving the final quality of the manuscript. Below we respond to each issue raised.

Review #3

Thank you for the effort you put into this paper. The paper is important and contemporary, but I have some concerns about it, so I recommend making the following amendments:

Author’s response: Thank you very much for your positive evaluation of the relevance and actuality of this study. We appreciate the recommendations for improvement and address each one separately in the points below.

Clarify the types of sustainability in literature reviews.

Author’s response: Thanks for your suggestion. We have improved the Literature Review section to present the three principles of the sustainability (i.e., social, environmental, and economic). We have included two new references:

- Purvis, B.; Mao, Y.; Robinson, D. Three pillars of sustainability: in search of conceptual origins. Sust. Scie. 2019, 14, 681-695. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0627-5

- Senadheera, S.; Withana, P.A.; Dissanayake, P.D.; Sarkar, B.; Chopra, S.; Rhee, J.H.; Ok. Y.S. Scoring environment pillar in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) assessment. Sust. Env. 2021, 7, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1080/27658511.2021.1960097

Where are the hypotheses in this research?

Author’s response: I appreciate this suggestion to make the objectives of this work explicit by stating the hypotheses formulated. As is the case in a qualitative study, the mixed-methods approach establishes research questions rather than formal research hypotheses because the elements cannot be effectively measured statistically through hypothesis testing. In this sense, we review the Introduction section to present the four research questions of this study:

RQ1. How to characterize the geographical distribution of sustainability projects in Portugal promoted at the municipal level?

RQ2. What is the relevance of population density and municipal GDP to characterize the emergence of these projects?

RQ3. What are the sustainable development goals addressed by these projects?

RQ4. Which are the main themes addressed in these sustainable projects?

Adding the methodology to the research and determining the method that was used of advanced statistical methods.

Author’s response: Thank you very much for your recommendation. We have informed in the Introduction section the adopted methodology and we have also improved the Methodology section to present the adopted methods applied in this study. We would like to clarify this study adopts mixed methods as a research strategy, in which the accounting of sustainable development projects is evaluated according to their geographical distribution in Portugal, the correlational analysis with population and GDP factors of the municipalities, their framework within the UN sustainable development objectives and the most relevant themes addressed by these projects.

Discuss the results in a more professional manner.

Author’s response: Thanks for your suggestion. We agree that the establishment of the research questions (RQs) allow us to discuss the results in a more professional manner. Therefore, we have improved the Discussion section by exploring the association between each RQ and the discussion of the findings.

Reviewer 4 Report

The study seeks to explore initiatives launched by civil society, businesses, and local organizations in the context of each municipality in Portugal to address the sustainable development goals established in the 2030 Agenda. Mixed methods are adopted to understand the quantitative impact of initiatives in the territories and the inherent characteristics of each project are explored qualitatively.

Topic of research is actual today.

The key concept this research defined "Sustainable development cannot be achieved without effective redistributive policies of increasingly scarce resources that take humanity..."

Authors used "the ODSlocal platform and portal" for information support of the research

Improvement proposals

1. Table 3 need to be presented in more comfort formant for reading and understanding

2. Structure of the goals need to be presented before fig. 4.

3. Line 377 have reference on 6 sources. It needs to be clear reference.

Author Response

We appreciate the review suggestions and comments received by the reviewer. These elements are key to improving the final quality of the manuscript. Below we respond to each issue raised.

Review #4

Topic of research is actual today.

The key concept this research defined "Sustainable development cannot be achieved without effective redistributive policies of increasingly scarce resources that take humanity..."

Authors used "the ODSlocal platform and portal" for information support of the research

Author’s response: Thank you very much for your positive evaluation regarding the relevance of this study and the pertinence of the adopted methods.

Improvement proposals

Table 3 need to be presented in more comfort formant for reading and understanding

Author’s response: Thanks for your suggestion. We have addressed your suggestion in two ways. First, we have included a new Figure 5 that shows the top-10 most frequent themes identified through the thematic analysis. Second, the Table has been reviewed to remove the information related the number of occurrences that it is presented in Figure 5 and the quotes that support each theme was shortened to increase the focus.

Structure of the goals need to be presented before fig. 4.

Author’s response: Thanks for your pertinent observation. We have included a new sentence before presenting the Figure 4 to present the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Line 377 have reference on 6 sources. It needs to be clear reference.

Author’s response: Thanks for your suggestion. We have deleted two references that were considered redundant. We have improved the text to address the relevance of the four other references. Kapsalis & Kapsalis [66] and Szetey et al. [67] recognize the role of local communities in promoting cultural sustainable projects. Furthermore, Kusakabe [68] and Li [69] provide examples of implementing these projects in Japan and Costa Rica.