Using the dataset to stratify the study area, the author selected a sample under stratified random sampling for which reference conditions of land cover and disturbance history were observed and recorded. We defined deforestation as a conversion from a forest to a non-forest land cover, such as agriculture or pasture. D/ND was defined as a natural or anthropogenic disturbance in a forest that does not result in a change in land cover category and includes fire and windthrow, selective logging, and damage to standing forests during expansion of roads or development. We applied unbiased statistical estimators to the sample of reference observations to estimate the areas of deforestation and D/ND with 95% confidence intervals (Olofsson et al., 2014; Stehman, 2014).
Hightlights:
* Area estimation based on the stratified estimator
* Seperate and compare different forest disturbance type
