PONE-D-25-17885Finance for Sustainability: Exploring the BIOFIN Framework for Government Investment in Conserving Native and Indigenous Livestock Breeds in Central IndiaPLOS ONE

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: The manuscript entitled “Finance for Sustainability: Exploring the BIOFIN Framework for Government Investment in Conserving Native and Indigenous Livestock Breeds in Central India” by Lad et al is a technically correct research paper with quality data that supports the conclusions. This article addresses a critical aspect of biodiversity conservation, financial resources allocated to protecting native and indigenous livestock. By examining the case of Madhya Pradesh, India, and employing the BIOFIN approach, the authors provide a unique and insightful analysis of how public sector investments are directed towards achieving Aichi Biodiversity Targets and sustainable development goals within the animal husbandry sector. The identification and categorisation of 43 relevant schemes, along with the quantification of expenditures, offer a clear and systematic overview of the financial landscape. The study's key contribution lies in demonstrating a replicable methodology for assessing financial availability and alignment with biodiversity targets. The conclusion that the Madhya Pradesh sector is meeting its assessed financial needs through systematic investments is encouraging. However, the paper also judiciously points out the inherent tension between increasing native livestock production and maintaining overall livestock biodiversity, a crucial consideration for long-term conservation strategies. The call to extend this approach to other states and developing countries underscores the broader significance of this research for enhancing financial planning and implementation in biodiversity conservation across various sectors. Using the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) approach in the context of livestock biodiversity is a significant and valuable aspect of the study. The mapping and categorisation of numerous schemes provide a structured and comprehensive understanding of financial flows. The reporting of the total expenditure on livestock conservation offers concrete evidence of financial commitment. The study clearly articulates the potential for its methodology to be adopted by other regions facing similar challenges. The findings offer valuable insights for policymakers and practitioners involved in biodiversity conservation and financial planning. Overall, the article is well-written, informative, and communicates the key findings and implications. The manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion, with structured statistical analysis and written in standard English, but needs some language correction and recommendations for publication.

Reviewer #2: Finance for Sustainability: Exploring the BIOFIN Framework for Government Investment in Conserving Native and Indigenous Livestock Breeds in Central India

Comments and Suggestions

Line 63-66: mention some countries and need citation.

Line 78: delete the phrase “natural resource”

Line 113-114: what do you mean changes in land use

What are your criteria to say native or indigenous?

Line 119: Capra aegagrus hircus?

Line 126: 7,48,92,284.68?

What is the effect or output from each scheme? e.g Make a comparison in population and productivity trend for conserved breed between initial year and current year.

how many skilled personnel were produced from awareness scheme?

Which strategy or approach is used for conservation?

What type of breeding strategy implemented or implementing?

If there is incentive for participant farmers; what type of incentive,

What is the criteria for budget allocation for each scheme?

Explain in detail for the sustainable issues (discontinued projects such as: calf rearing for cows and buffaloes, the National Kamdhenu Breeding Centre (NKBC), Embryo Transfer Technology (ETT), and the Animal Breeding Centre were discontinued. In the sustainable category, 27 schemes were evaluated to address sustainable issues, but key schemes like National Animal Health & Disease Prevention and Fodder Production were discontinued.) and others.

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Reviewer #1: Yes:  Dr. Pranab Jyoti Das, Principal Scientist, ICAR-NRC on Pig

Reviewer #2: Yes:  Ebadu Areb

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PONE-D-25-17885R1Financing Sustainability: Applying the BIOFIN Framework to Government Investments in Conserving Native and Indigenous Livestock Breeds in Central IndiaPLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Singh,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Please submit your revised manuscript by Sep 07 2025 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org . When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Kasi Eswarappa

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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I advise you to check the comments thoroughly and address it in detail without leaving for further editing.

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Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

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2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Partly

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: This manuscript by Lad et al. is a commendable and technically sound research paper that makes a valuable and timely contribution to biodiversity conservation. Its innovative application of the BIOFIN framework to analyze government investment in conserving native and indigenous livestock breeds is particularly impressive, offering a robust methodology. The detailed financial analysis, clear insights into policy implications, and recognition of complex conservation trade-offs make this work impactful. This well-written and informative study is a significant advancement in the field and is recommended for acceptance.

Reviewer #2: The authors try to address the previous comments. However, still there are some concerns;

1. Line 123-129: Need appropriate citation for listed native and indigenous breeds.

2. From a total of identified 43 schemes from 2016 to 2022, how many of them are successful? How many discontinued? For which breed of conservation is more successful?

3. If conservation criteria, effects and outcomes had already been addressed by the Madhya Pradesh Animal Husbandry Department, include the information in the background (introduction) section.

4. To get good information about the conservation program and to understand BIOFIN for your target population: you should include information such as number of participant farmers or experts, number of animals for each breed, number of farms……etc in table form in the methodology section.

5. Does the breeding strategy is natural or artificial? using sorted semen for which breed? What is the distribution modality of native and indigenous breeds?

6. What is the reason for discontinued of some conservation schemes?

7. Use consistence reference format

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Reviewer #1: Yes:  Dr. Pranab Jyoti Das, Principal Scientist , Indian Council of Agricultural Research

Reviewer #2: Yes:  Ebadu Areb

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Financing Sustainability: Applying the BIOFIN Framework to Government Investments in Conserving Native and Indigenous Livestock Breeds in Central India

PONE-D-25-17885R2

Dear Dr. Randeep Singh,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kasi Eswarappa

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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