The paper entitled "Mapping land degradation risk due to soil erosion by storms and water:

The authors use machine learning to assess wind and water erosion susceptibility in the study region. The article is interesting and has potential. I carefully read the manuscript and it is suitable for publication after minor revision.

1. I suggest some literature that can be helpful in this regard. But authors are not bound to cite them in this manuscript:

https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.4380

https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2650

1. MODIS first time used, abbreviation not explained and no reference
2. Lines 77-79: Please state the possible applications of your study
3. Please indicate the limitations of this work.
4. Dust sources are locations of dust particles where are susceptible to wind erosion. So I think that "wind erosion susceptibility" is more appropriate than dust source susceptibility (DSS).
5. What is the outlook or scope of the future research for this work?

The manuscript “Mapping land degradation risk due to win and water erosion” presents an interesting research, with significant data and results. However, I consider that in its present form the manuscript cannot be published and major revisions are needed before a new submission.

• I do not agree with the sentence that land degradation receives little attention. I think that this topic has been widely and worldwide study with different studies, methods
• Lines 32-34. The last sentences of the abstract should be also improved. Why larger area? Is it necessary for land management? These ideas should be better developed.
• In general, I consider that the introduction section should be improved. My suggestion is to present first the topic of land degradation (better developed), second dust-wind erosion, water erosion and finally all the ideas related to the methodology (machine learning…). In addition, the objectives should be improved and I consider that a research hypothesis should be included.
• Likewise, the novelty of the manuscript and the international impact of the methods and results should be highlighted thought the text.
• I consider that lines 88-93 should be moved to the introduction section, as it presents a research problem.
• You should also improve the study area description (altitude, slopes, climate, soils…) a brief presentation of the study area.
• Line 117-127. This information should be better presented. I understand that you indicate a reference where the methods are explained, but the reader of this manuscript should know more about it. More information is needed.
• Figure 3. I think Figure 3 should be separated into several figures.
• Figure 3. Water-induced soil erosion points for training and validation. You should justify the location of these points, as they are limited-spatially.
• Figure 3. Better legends should be included in some cases (rainfall, is it annual rainfall?, lithology?). In addition, the maps distance from roads and rivers present strange information.
• Results, discussion. This section should be also improved, including international studies, comparisons, discussing your main results, your methodology…
• As I suggest in the introduction section, the conclusion section should be also rethought, and improved.

Dear Editor

The study is about “Mapping land degradation risk due to wind and water erosion”. Principles and methodology are well supported. However, I would like to consider some specific comments below as minor revisions. In general, there are some grammar errors throughout the manuscript. Please check the spellchecking in addition to these minor issues.