Historical Political Ecology in the Former Lake Texcoco: Hydrological Regulation

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In this article, the authors seek to couch the historic sequence of events in the Lake Texcoco region of Mexico, specifically in the immediate vicinity of the mega-city of Mexico City, in the theoretical nexus of historical political ecology. The authors present an extensive list of state and local policy initiatives as well as an investigation of the sequence of land transformation in the region from the Spanish colonial through modern periods, including significant transformation from a saline, dry lake bed to planning for an agricultural renaissance in the region, to planning for an international airport to serve the region. The article goes to great lengths to capture nearly every actor and event in the region spanning hundreds of years and the attention to historical detail is admirable. Additionally, the inclusion of rich illustrations, both historic and modern maps, is visually appealing and helpful for spatial association with the topic.

While the historical outline of the region is informative, there are a number of issues with the overall structure of the article, such as how exactly the lake was drained (climatic, direct human—draining, or indirect—depletion via over extraction). First, and foremost, is the theoretical and methodological contextualization. In the first section of the article, an attempt is made to couch the historical analysis into the overarching theoretical framework of political ecology and its sub-theory of historical political ecology. The way the article’s theoretical context is written does not have enough depth of analysis of the field to be sufficient. The article itself reads more like a traditional “historical ecology” approach than a more modern derivation of historical political ecology. Davis and Bailey are mentioned, but more needs to be done to add more substance to the discussion of HPE. In my opinion, there needs to be a disaggregation of the theories. I would recommend a more in-depth analysis of political ecology’s theoretical and methodological approach (Robbins, Zimmerer, among others), in general, and then a supplementary analysis that demonstrates not only what HPE is, but also how it is a more valuable approach to the L. Texcoco analysis. To a general reader, as it is currently written, the article seems like a historical sequence analysis “looking” for a theory, rather than following a more “grounded theory” approach—which is actually a more appropriate way of re-conceptualizing this article’s structure.

The historical sequence presented in this article is also a point of concern, though not based on historical inaccuracies or bias. Rather, it has an oversaturation of historical detail that actually reads more akin to a time-line filled in with notes and text, rather than a unified vision of a HPE analysis of the L. Texcoco region. Some readers might see historical minutiae rather than a series of synthesized, significant events that further the HPE analysis of the human-environment interaction through time. From my understanding of PE and HPE, a greater focus needs to be on a critical Marxist approach to a series of events that impact the environment and marginalized populations based on the socio-economic and historical impacts of governmental/elites activities in the region. A PE/HPE driven analysis of the historic sequence here (emphasizing highly significant and nuanced historical events) could be a good way to re-envision this article’s approach.  

Another significant change that would benefit the significance of this article’s content would be to further develop the social history of the region more. This is not to say it needs any more historic data-points, rather it needs more grounding in affected/marginalized groups—essentially giving more voice to the voiceless (maybe more of a 1990’s Peet and Watts Liberation Ecology styled approach). More voices need to be brought it from archival and additional news sources, interviews, even conversations with people who have first-hand knowledge of the events and impacts would be extremely beneficial for the HPE approach. Embedded research and more vernacular “stories” would benefit the article, especially since many of the changes have occurred since the mid-20^th century.

In general, the historical sequencing is admirable, but more often than not the historical inclusions jump from one to the next without any recognizable pattern or overt and necessary transitions (especially apparent in section 3). The theoretical contextualization is more book-ends (first section and conclusion than macro level and unifying thread that links all the disparate historical details into a unified analysis of environmental issues, social impacts, and remedies for the disparities. The article has the potential to tell a good HPE derived story, but it is currently bogged down in hyper historic specificity with no unifying theme. For clarity, in my opinion, it needs to either focus solely on policy and land use changes in a macro sense, or focus on local, peasant impacts of these LU changes and access issues. As it is currently written, it ricochets between themes without fully explaining them or unifying the issues into a larger narrative of abuse (social and or environmental), if “abuse” is the goal (activist/passive research dynamic).

The quality of English language is fine. The only issues are structural. There needs to be better transitions between paragraphs/historic details/ideas. Additionally, there are a few paragraphs that are only two sentences long.

Author Response

We greatly appreciate the feedback that has been provided, it is indeed a constructive criticism on how the manuscript can improve its analysis and presentation of the historical sequence of events in the Lake Texcoco region through a more focused and unified HPE approach, incorporating more voices and vernacular stories, and providing greater theoretical and methodological depth.

This manuscript serves as a follow-up to the previous publication entitled "Water Diversion in the Valley of Mexico Basin: An Environmental Transformation That Caused the Desiccation of Lake Texcoco." The purpose of this new article is to provide a more detailed account of the dessication of the lake and to focus on the subsequent attempts made to manage the exposed lake bed. The aforementioned details can be found in lines 109 through 115 of the text.

During the course of our revisions, we undertook a comprehensive review of the article with the objective of enhancing its clarity. Particular attention was given to ensuring smooth transitions between paragraphs, historical details, and ideas. Additionally, we took measures to remove or modify paragraphs that were only two sentences in length. Furthermore, we expanded the Historical Political Ecology (HPE) analysis in sections 3 and 5 of the text.

Once again, thank you for your valuable feedback. Your comments have been instrumental in improving the manuscript, and we look forward to the opportunity to work with you again in the future.

Best regards.

Reviewer 2 Report

I read carefully manuscript number:land-2349791, the manuscript entitled: "Historical political ecology in the former Lake Texcoco: Hydrological regulation.". Check the English Grammar. The English language is moderate. Please check all parts of the manuscript and correct grammatical errors. The authors should ask the help of native English speaking proofreader, because there are some linguistic mistakes that should be fixed. Nevertheless, the manuscript is not acceptable in its current form.Since the quality of the study is lower than average for the publication in the journal, tools for objective function optimization are unclear in the methodology and conclusion, but it still needs a major revisions before reconsideration.

I attached my reviewer comments in the PDF file. Authors should apply all of my comments.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Dear Editor,

I read manuscript number:land-2349791, the manuscript entitled: "Historical political ecology in the former Lake Texcoco: Hydrological regulation.".

Since the quality of the study is lower than average for the publication in the journal, tools for objective function optimization are unclear in the methodology and conclusion, but it still needs a major revisions before reconsideration. I insert my comments in the main text of the PDF file.
Kind regards,

Reviewer

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for taking the time to carefully read and evaluate our manuscript "Historical political ecology in the former Lake Texcoco: Hydrological regulation". We appreciate your feedback and suggestions for improvement.

We apologize for any grammatical errors that may have detracted from the clarity of our manuscript. We have taken your comments into consideration and made sure to thoroughly check all parts of the manuscript and corrected any linguistic mistakes to ensure that the quality of our manuscript meets the standards of the journal.

Please find below the list of changes we have made in response to your specific observations:

- We have added more information and improved the abstract. In addition, we have stated the novelty of the study in lines 15 to 17.

- In the introduction section, we have explained the novelty of the study in lines 64 to 69 and 80 to 85.

- We have reviewed the comment on the study area section and have improved its clarity. The purpose of this section is to describe the characteristics of the area in order to provide context for the analyzed situation.

- We have reviewed and expanded Section 3.

- We have reviewed and expanded Section 4.

- We have reviewed Section 5 entirely and have made changes to improve its clarity.

- We have also reviewed the references and have determined that no changes were necessary, as we have considered the latest versions available.

Once again, thank you for your valuable feedback. Your comments have been instrumental in improving the manuscript, and we look forward to the opportunity to work with you again in the future.

Reviewer 3 Report

The article is an overview of the history of land use in the area of the former Lake Texcoco and the history of development attempts in this area. The content of the article is fully consistent with the theme of the scientific journal Land. The article is very interesting. It can be recommended to readers to get acquainted with the history of Lake Texcoco. The facts on this topic are well summarized and presented. The presentation is clear and precise. The structure of the text is convenient for the reader. The content of the text is not objectionable. I think that the article can be published in its current form.

Author Response

Thank you for taking the time to review our article titled "Land Use and Development Attempts in the Area of the Former Lake Texcoco". We are glad to hear that the content of the article is fully consistent with the theme of the scientific journal Land and that you found it interesting and well-presented.

We appreciate your positive comments regarding the summary of facts and the clarity and precision of the presentation. We also take note of your feedback on the convenient structure of the text, which we consider as an essential element in making our article more accessible to readers.

Your recommendation to publish the article is truly appreciated, and we hope that it can contribute to the readers' understanding of the history of Lake Texcoco.

Once again, thank you for your valuable feedback and for considering our article for publication.