Drina Transboundary Biosphere Reserve—Opportunities and Challenges of Sustainable Conservation

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper is interesting, clear and well developed.

Maybe you would like to consider identifying and presenting some other cases of transboundary Biosphere Reserves or other trasnboundary biodiversity protection measures. And discuss some possible capitalitaion elements from those experiences.

Please note that species names are usually typed in Italic.

Author Response

Maybe you would like to consider identifying and presenting some other cases of transboundary Biosphere Reserves or other trasnboundary biodiversity protection measures. And discuss some possible capitalizatio elements from those experiences.

We identified, presented, and discussed measures in Krkonoše/Karkonosze TBR, with similar problems (Lines 97-100 and 448-454)

Please note that species names are usually typed in Italic.

We corrected that (Lines 311-374)

English revision will be done after the review process using a paid editing service at https://www.mdpi.com/authors/english.

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper documents the opportunities and challenges of a geographic region that spans governmental boundaries and complex laws, contains rich flora and fauna, contains multiple cultural sites, and is also of economic interest such as for tourism.  The paper is very interesting and provides provocative arguments to stimulate thinking on this topic.  As an essay (per the MDPI definitions of types of papers), this paper is excellent.  As an article, the research work should contain scientifically sound experiments, which it does not.  

As an essay, I offer the following comments and suggestions:

-Lines 111-115:  A word seems to be missing after "top-bottom analysis of European".  The sentence is unclear.  The next sentence is unclear as well.  "Through methods of classification, and regionalization...processes in the observed space."  Please rework these two sentences for improved clarity.

Line 187:  This sentence is confusing.  "...entity level and the..."  Instead of "and", do you mean "of"?

Line 198: The word in the manuscript is "mandate."  Do you mean "term"?

Line 354:  If these folk architecture objects are relatively well preserved, why are they "dislocated"?  These two sentences in lines 353-355 seem to be contradictory.  

Line 396:  Instead of the word "necessarily", do you mean "necessitate"?

Line 401:  The sentence starting, "Water as a resource and as the value represents the ..." is confusing.  Please consider rewording.  

Author Response

Lines 111-115:  A word seems to be missing after "top-bottom analysis of European".  The sentence is unclear.  The next sentence is unclear as well.  "Through methods of classification, and regionalization...processes in the observed space."  Please rework these two sentences for improved clarity.

We clarified the sentences

Lines 143-148: In the process of answering the questions posed, to achieve goals and tasks postulated in the framework of TBR Drina – opportunities and challenges of sustainable conservation, the qualitative research represents a top-bottom analysis from European level toward the regional, national, and local levels. Through methods of classification, and regionalization, it is intended to form an integrated strategic mechanism for problem processes in the observed space.

Line 187:  This sentence is confusing.  "...entity level and the..."  Instead of "and", do you mean "of"?

No, we don't mean „of“. „And“ is the correct word.

Bosnia is composed of two entities AND Brčko District (practically 3 parts) and each part has its own governing bodies. We have explained the complex state arrangement in Table 1 and lines 178-186: The signing of the General Framework Agreement in Dayton (November 21st, 1995) and its ratification (December 14th, 1995) ended the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The internationally recognized state of Bosnia and Herzegovina was created, comprising two political and territorial units – entities: The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which spans around 51% territory, and the Republic of Srpska, on 49% of the territory. The pre-war municipality of Brčko was declared a district [55]. Today, Bosnia and Herzegovina has a total of 143 basic administrative-territorial units, 79 of which are in the 10 cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 64 are on the territory of the Republic of Srpska, and the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a separate unit.

Line 198: The word in the manuscript is "mandate."  Do you mean "term"?

Yes, we mean that and changed it to „term“.

Lines 225-227: The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina appoints two, the Republic of Srpska one member, and the main director of UNESCO appoints the remaining members, each with a five-year term.

Line 354:  If these folk architecture objects are relatively well preserved, why are they "dislocated"?  These two sentences in lines 353-355 seem to be contradictory.  

We did not notice the error, caused by the translation. We corrected it.

Lines 381-383: Ethnological heritage is extremely important and relatively well preserved. The objects of folk architecture from the village of Zaovina on Kaluđerske Bare and in the settlements of Jagoštica and Rastište stand out.

Line 396:  Instead of the word "necessarily", do you mean "necessitate"?

Yes, we mean that and changed it to „necessitate“.

Lines 422-424: Plan-oriented guidance and management of such spatial systems necessitate clearly defined protection measures and then assumed institutional responsibility at all levels.

Line 401:  The sentence starting, "Water as a resource and as the value represents the ..." is confusing.  Please consider rewording.  

We reworded the sentence to avoid confusion.

Lines 428-429: Water as a natural basis of planning, in recent years, is increasingly seen as a strategic resource of every country.

We've made a few more improvements. The Materials and Methods chapter was expanded and a scheme of the research procedure was created (Lines 91-154). We identified, presented, and discussed measures in Krkonoše/Karkonosze TBR, with similar problems (Lines 97-100 and 448-454).

English revision will be done after the review process using a paid editing service at https://www.mdpi.com/authors/english.

Reviewer 3 Report

Authors presented an interesting results with regard to the paper's main goal. Results are discussed in an understandable manner, clearly and very comprehensively (!). However, other parts of the manuscript require some little changes to give more details and explanations, eg. literature review and discussion, material and methods.

Literature review should be extended and more detailed. Authors stated that 'In addition to legal 104 [18,46,47,48,49] and planning documentation [50], its potential has been analyzed through several scientific and professional publications [13,51,52]'. My suggestion in to add more details, main results or conclusions with regard to these publications, eg. in introduction or in discussion - more details in the discussion will be interesting.

Material and Methods - also more details are needed, a scheme of research procedure with particular stages of research can be useful to present material and methods. Authors mentioned modelling methods, software support, and evaluation methods which 'contribute to the more exact formulation of the theoretical-applicative model construction of the research subject' - as above, more details can be given here.

Author Response

Literature review should be extended and more detailed. Authors stated that 'In addition to legal 104 [18,46,47,48,49] and planning documentation [50], its potential has been analyzed through several scientific and professional publications [13,51,52]'. My suggestion in to add more details, main results or conclusions with regard to these publications, eg. in introduction or in discussion - more details in the discussion will be interesting.

We extended and more detailed Literature review (Lines 92-119)

Material and Methods - also more details are needed, a scheme of research procedure with particular stages of research can be useful to present material and methods. Authors mentioned modelling methods, software support, and evaluation methods which 'contribute to the more exact formulation of the theoretical-applicative model construction of the research subject' - as above, more details can be given here.

Material and Methods we also extended, and created a scheme of the research procedure (Lines 120-154)

English revision will be done after the review process using a paid editing service at https://www.mdpi.com/authors/english.

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Edits have greatly improved the paper.