Envisaging Participatory Management in Protected Areas: Local Response to Proposed Conservation Actions in Relation to Environmental Orientation

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article is well structured, the topic is of interest in the contemporary debate regarding sustainability and the the approach is sounding. I have to say that the data are not particularly relevant for numerical and geografical limitations and the results seems to be not that astonishing. I suggest few intergation to let the reading easier and complete the frame:

- line 267 is there a typo? Or are the data 12 years old?!?

- chapter 3.3 The NEP scores: you are assuming that the reader is aware of what NEP is. I suggest a clearer explanation of this paradigm, how hst it emerged, why you have decided to adopt it. Only after this explanation you may describe the results of your research

- line 549 what do you mean by saying "old-fashioned"?

- problematize the fact that you are working only at level D of participatory engagement of local people: why not a full participation (grade G)? This could be added in the conclusions as limit of the study and future development of the research to compare low participation and high participation, with a bottom up approach instead of a top down as it is in this LIFE project.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you so much for your comments. Please, find below our responses.

 

Comment 1: line 267 is there a typo? Or are the data 12 years old?!?

Response: Indeed, the data are 12 years old.

 

Comment 2: chapter 3.3 The NEP scores: you are assuming that the reader is aware of what NEP is. I suggest a clearer explanation of this paradigm, how hst it emerged, why you have decided to adopt it. Only after this explanation you may describe the results of your research

Response: The NEP scale is being used worldwide for many years, it is a valid method and has reached the fact that agreement with the eight odd-numbered items and disagreement with the seven even-numbered items indicate pro-NEP responses. Thus, we felt that it was pointless to go into details and we preferred to list the relevant literature for anyone interested in more information.

 

Comment 3: line 549 what do you mean by saying "old-fashioned"?

Response: Old-fashioned mentalities regarding livestock husbandry are considered to be those of breeding a really large number of animals as they used to do in previous times, before the sustainability issues emerged.  

 

Comment 4: problematize the fact that you are working only at level D of participatory engagement of local people: why not a full participation (grade G)? This could be added in the conclusions as limit of the study and future development of the research to compare low participation and high participation, with a bottom up approach instead of a top down as it is in this LIFE project.

Response: Full participation is of course the ultimate goal and this research tries to contribute in this direction. However, the LIFE project implemented in the island, included an action that falls into level D, that is actively consulting or giving of opinions/views as well as active exchange of opinions. In this research we attempted to suggest a way to facilitate transition from Level B to level D, by incorporating Level C, with aim to pave the way for active consulting. Unfortunately, there was not yet sufficient ground to explore higher levels of participation in the frame of the LIFE project. 

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Comments

-        263-268: Could you cite some papers or methods / protocols regarding sampling method?

-        267-268: why didn't you apply the interview in other months of the year? Is it a provision or constraint of the protocol?

-         279-281: Couldn't analysis of variance (ANOVA) also be used for nature protection and ecotourism?

-        Is there a representative proportion of gender in your study? (63% males and 37% females)

-        The same question for other categories, such as: age, education..

-         305: Do you think that in table 3 you should enter the mean and the standard error or standard deviation?

-        340: the same as 305

-         340: I think that some statements are designed in such a way that they can generate certain responses, inducing a certain perception from the start. Of course, as a reviewer, I cannot comment on the statements in the NEP, but probably the result of many of them is somehow predictable and directly influenced by the public's mentality. -         405-412: Figures 1 and 2 should perhaps be moved to results, and the comments and comparisons made to discussions

 

 

 

Suggestions

  1.      It was useful to compare the results of the present case with other similar situations in Europe or around the world where the answers were predominantly negative, showing a rather anti-nature tendency or at least a high concern or suspicion regarding conservation measures

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Comments on the Quality of English Language

No comments

Author Response

Thank you for your comments. Please find below our responses. 

Comment 1: 263-268: Could you cite some papers or methods / protocols regarding sampling method?

Response: We took into account whether we should include citation about the sampling method. However since the method is the simple random sampling, which is extremely common and widespread we feel that the relevant citation may be redundant.  

 

Comment 2: 267-268: why didn't you apply the interview in other months of the year? Is it a provision or constraint of the protocol?

Response: Given that a large part of the local community works in the primary sector, exlusively or not, season of late autumn and early winter was appropriate because there was not so much agricultural work in the fields so those people were more available to join the research.

 

Comment 3: 279-281: Couldn't analysis of variance (ANOVA) also be used for nature protection and ecotourism?

Response: ANOVA was used to detect possible impact of specific occupation (agro-pastoralism) to all four dependent variables. The results showed that those who are exclusively farmers scored lower and significantly differentiated from the rest of the sample, as regards only nature protection and ecotourism. No significant relation was found regarding the NEP scale and the Agro-pastoralism variables (386-396). 

 

Comment 4: Is there a representative proportion of gender in your study? (63% males and 37% females)

Response: The sample is representative regarding all the categories (gender, age, education). The sample in total corresponds approximately to 7% of the total population of Skyros, which itself is a particularly large sample size, ensuring the representation of the sample. According to the simple random sample method, when there is a large enough sample size, the sample has high external validity: it represents the characteristics of the larger population.

 

Comment 5: The same question for other categories, such as: age, education..

Response: same as in comment 4.

 

Comment 6: 305: Do you think that in table 3 you should enter the mean and the standard error or standard deviation?

Response: In table 3 the abbreviation SD does not stand for Standard deviation but for "Strongly Disagree". 

 

Comment 7: 340: the same as 305

Response: same as in comment 6.

 

Comment 8: I think that some statements are designed in such a way that they can generate certain responses, inducing a certain perception from the start. Of course, as a reviewer, I cannot comment on the statements in the NEP, but probably the result of many of them is somehow predictable and directly influenced by the public's mentality.

Response: We understand any concerns you may have. However the NEP scale is being used worldwide for many years, it is a valid method and has reached the fact that agreement with the eight odd-numbered items and disagreement with the seven even-numbered items indicate pro-NEP responses. 

 

Comment 8: 405-412: Figures 1 and 2 should perhaps be moved to results, and the comments and comparisons made to discussions

Response: We have no objection to this, but we suppose that it has to do with the format so that there is no gap in the text. 

 

Suggestions: It was useful to compare the results of the present case with other similar situations in Europe or around the world where the answers were predominantly negative, showing a rather anti-nature tendency or at least a high concern or suspicion regarding conservation measures

Response: Thank you very much.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The topic of the article is interesting, presents a good topic for readers of this Journal.

Author Response

Comment: The topic of the article is interesting, presents a good topic for readers of this Journal.

Response: Thank you very much.