Towards a “Social Justice Ecosystem Framework” for Enhancing Livelihoods and Sustainability in Pastoralist Communities

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article is exploring social justice and pastoralist livelihoods are regimented through indigenous know- how in Cameroon, to discern the conditions for social justice/security and coping strategies affecting pastoralist livelihoods and to uncover the implications of political ecology  on pastoralist livelihoods.

The relevance of the topic is of high interest, I appreciated very much the conjunction between social justice and political ecology related to pastoralism in a indigenous context. It tries to fill the gap in this combination of elements related to a case study in Africa. However, I must say that at this stage it appears inadequate to the task the authors set themselves. The literature review is actually not a review but a messy combination of concept badly referenced, the methodology is completely inaccurate, the results are hardly understandable, the discussion is missing and conclusions are not coherent to the rest of the work. In the attached file authors may find comments specifically related to each part as well as suggestions on how to improve the text.

Considering the potential of the framework proposed applied to such an interesting case and insights to policy makers, I strongly recommend to take it into consideration after radical changes.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Many thanks for your insightful comments, please see a detailed response attached.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The relevant aim of the manuscript is explores how social justice and Pastoralist livelihoods are regimented through Indigenous know-how. Really, there are other objectives aimed  to discern the conditions for social justice/security and coping strategies affecting pastoralist livelihoods; to uncover the implications of political ecology (human-environment nexus and governance decisions) on pastoralist livelihoods. the focus  is on pastoralists of the Cameroon’s North-West Region. Utilizing a mixed-method approach, the authors delve into a topic with the potential to significantly contribute to the fields of social research, agricultures practices, and policymaking.

 

The article is interesting.  it is too long and repetitive so it loses the readable. Please, also improve the structure of the article: there are too much subsections so may need some restructuring. However, the study makes a nice contribution to the subject. 

Keywords: Do not repeat among keywords the words/concepts included in the title of the article.

Introduction: A short comparison is needed on pastoralists in several countries in the Africa considered that there are 23.4 million pastoralists in the Horn of Africa (lines 25-26).Th Introdcution section is well, however you can  include a sentence about the structure of the paper and you could more clearly state the research gap you intend to fill it (not only but in relation with the four objectives you mention).

Literature review: please sections 2.3 and 2.4 should be merged with the literature review to create a more cohesive narrative. Many concepts are repetitive. 

Methods. The methods section is well-constructed, but minor adjustments are needed for clarity and completeness. Such as: provide insights and more details with a table on interviewed (lines 249-260, p. 5-6). Also, insert a map of Camerun. Since the study was conducted in Camerun, clarify the language in which the survey was administered.

 Discussion: in this section the authors could comment the table 2 (the author could insert the table 2 in appendix). It is no useful the reference of the table 2 to the end of the conclusion (lines 759-762).

Conclusion: please  cut the repetitive text on objectives (lines 722-727). The author explain: Why would you think the place of origin has an influence on the pastoralists livelihood strategies? The study is exploratory and together with the sampling method and the limited sample size produce results with limited relevance. You should address this issue and provide arguments why the study is relevant to territory.

What is the impact of the social justice ecosystem framework (SJEF)upon other target of the society (e.g. farmers)? the authors could explain.

 

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Quality of communication is readable, but would benefit from a further review to cut repetitions, check punctuation mistakes (many times is written the aims of the article)

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

Many thanks for your insightful comments. Please find detailed response attached.

Kind regards,

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors, you have done a great job and I congratulate. I have to say that something is still missing and I strongly suggest to elaborate a little bit more to have a good result. In particular the methodology is still weak because you are not explaning how and why you have selected the subjects to be interviewed and the theoretical framework would benefit of including feminist political ecology as you are then gendering the strategies. With these adjustiment I think you will be very close to publication readiness. My best wishes for your work.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Dear Reviewer, 

Many thanks for your insightful comments.

 Comment: In particular the methodology is still weak because you are not explaining how and why you have selected the subjects to be interviewed and the theoretical framework would benefit of including feminist political ecology as you are then gendering the strategies.

Response: The methodology has been clarified and we have explained how and why we selected the subjects we interviewed. See text highlighted in red.

Comment: the theoretical framework would benefit of including feminist political ecology as you are then gendering the strategies.

Response: We have firmed up the theoretical framework by including literature on feminist political ecology, in tandem with the gender strategies discussed later. Two key references have been added.

Finally, figure 1 as been moved as suggested.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have adequately responded following the review comments. The new version is improved

Author Response

No Comments -Thank You.

Round 3

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Thank you for having accepted my suggestions. I hope to have contributed to the effectivenes of this very interesting work and I encourage you to go ahead in your research on social justice and pastoralism. Good luck

Author Response

Thanks so much for all your helpful comments which has improved the work.