Over the past decade, assessment of forest degradation has become one of the main targets of tropical forest monitoring.
Information on the extent and level of forest degradation is required to support reporting obligations under international
conventions, to design and implement forest-related policies and as input to potential payment mechanisms and incentive
schemes (FAO, 2011a). Forest degradation can be generally defined as: the reduction of the capacity of a forest to provide goods
and services (FAO, 2010a). However, this general definition can be interpreted in numerous and potentially rather contradicting
ways. Depending on the scope of the analysis, the evaluation of degradation in a given forest area can be based e.g. on