Community Perception and Adaptation to Climate Change in Coastal Areas of Mexico

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Excellent article on an important subject.  Most of the discussion is qualitative.  Are there any regional differences in coastal adaptation?  line 76: what kind of increased coastal ownership ?  private?

Author Response

Response to Reviewer 1 comments:

Excellent article on an important subject.  Most of the discussion is qualitative.  

Are there any regional differences in coastal adaptation?  

Some sentences attending to these aspects have been included in the penultimate paragraph of the discussion section. The new lines 557-571 read:

Mexico is among the countries considered to have the most significant loss of global biodiversity globally, along with Australia, China, Brazil, Ecuador, Malaysia, Indonesia, Colombia, and the USA [61]. Spatial prioritization has been applied in Mexico recently as an adaptation strategy for conserving ecosystems [41,49,61], which is considered essential in megadiverse countries worldwide [76]. Greater awareness of climate change impacts has been identified in regions where local livelihoods, subsistence or health of the population were directly affected by climate change, especially in Yucatán, Tabasco, Sinaloa and Jalisco. Adaptation actions in Mexico related to the integration of local knowledge and traditional practices for climate change adaptation have been found mainly in the coastal communities of Yucatán and Campeche. Diversification has been a vital adaptation strategy considered in these rural communities, facing an increasingly variable climate in an economy hostile to small-scale and subsistence agriculture and fisheries [21,59]. The Gulf of Mexico (Tabasco, Guerrero, Michoacán and Yucatán) and South Pacific regions stood out for their lack of legal protection instruments, and thus with reduced extension and institutional adaptation capacity. On the other hand, the North Pacific and Gulf of California regions, especially Baja California, were considered more prepared as they had legal protection instruments or institutions in charge of preparing local development plans and strategies for adaptation to the effects of climate change [44].

Line 76: what kind of increased coastal ownership?  private?

Yes, privatization of the coast has increased and owners sometimes conduct inappropriate interventions. Also, there is a strip (known as terrestrial-maritime federal zone) that cannot be privatized by law. This strip can be concessioned for several uses that sometimes increase the coastal vulnerability. We have added these two options between parenthesis.

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear Editor, the paper addresses a very interesting topic and provides very useful information concerning the climate adaption issue in Mexico. It is well written and the structure is clear. References are updated.

In my opinion, the paper can be considered suitable for publication and does not need any text modifications.

I would only suggest i) improving the style of the provided figures (for example by adding the light blue colour to the sea/ocean area and including borders and names of neighbouring states); ii) moving the Study Area section out from the Material and Methods section.

Best Regards

Author Response

Responses to reviewer 2 comments:

Dear Editor, the paper addresses a very interesting topic and provides very useful information concerning the climate adaption issue in Mexico. It is well written and the structure is clear. References are updated. In my opinion, the paper can be considered suitable for publication and does not need any text modifications.

I would only suggest

i) improving the style of the provided figures (for example by adding the light blue colour to the sea/ocean area and including borders and names of neighbouring states);

Thank you, all the figures have been improved following your suggestions.

ii) moving the Study Area section out from the Material and Methods section.

Thank you, we have a new section 2 specifically describing the study area.