Profile, Level of Vulnerability and Spatial Pattern of Deforestation in Sulawesi Period of 1990 to 2018

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The study assessed deforestation with a profile describing the the initial forest condition, high deforestation events in a period of observation,  and the size of deforestation, in Sulawesi from 1990-2018, by classifying and differencing landsat imagery. The profiles the paper provided, maybe useful for further studies and environmental management; however, the paper is of a low presentation quality, the method is overly simple (the classification is not adequately described and only using image differencing may lead to high error). Most importantly the method is not evaluated, leaving the results untrustworthy. The introduction of the paper is not for a scientific paper, as no relevant studies and methods have been introduced. The equation and formula are not clearly described and formulated, and the figures (e.g. 1,3) are not clear.    

Author Response

Based on previous suggestions and input, this paper has been described better and added several descriptions and reviews related to the findings. In addition, several research results that support the findings of this study have also been added to strengthen and improve the quality of presentations. The research method has been described and detailed, including the stages and classification methods used. In analyzing deforestation, changing forest cover to non-forest is defined as deforestation. For this reason, in the interpretation of land cover a field survey and ground check were conducted on representative land cover. This determines to assess the results of the interpretation with the existing conditions of land cover. The ground check result then applies its accuracy using Overall Accuracy (OA). The results obtained are 91% which means that the results of the interpretation are acceptable. The introductory section has been improved based on suggestions and has added several studies and relevant methods. Similarly, with the explanation of the numbers, it has been described more clearly.

Author Response File: Author Response.doc

Reviewer 2 Report

This study focuses on understanding deforestation in Sulawesi from 1990-2018.  The need for such an assessment is clear and the methods and findings, though not overly complex, are for the most part sound.  Great attention was given to deforestation profiles for each district but the ideas of vulnerability and spatial patterning of deforestation were less developed.  Additionally, the interpretation of findings could be stronger.  Some discussion is also found within the results section and should be moved to conclusions/discussion.  Overall the manuscript suffers from lack of clarity in wording and needs some major editing. 

34-38:

Unclear.  Wording is confusing

125-131:

These lines are repeated

158-161:

Believe this is referring to Compound Interest Law not multiple interest.  This section could also be stated more clearly and q, if introduced should be explained and contrasted more clearly with r

199-202:

Calculation of vulnerability needs to be stated more clearly.

204-207:

Again method for determining spatial patterning, even if descriptive, needs further explanation.

Fig. 1:

Legend needs to be reformatted.

Fig. 3:

Need higher resolution to be able to clearly view this figure. It is clear that some deforestation happened in many regions of Sulawesi it is not clear why this pattern was determined to be random in all areas.  Again, this could be clarified with some additional information in methods and results.

Author Response

The results of the review provide very constructive reinforcement for this paper. The results of this study have been improved. This paper has also added several explanations and descriptions to describe more clearly the vulnerability and spatial patterns of deforestation in each region in several periods of research. The results of the study have also added some research results and descriptions to reinforce the description of the research findings. Improvements in several parts of the results have been made by moving them in the discussion / conclusion section. This paper has also been edited in language to provide a better explanation and will continue to seek refinement until the publishing stage.

34-38: It has been fixed according to suggestions

125-131: Improved according to suggestions

158-161: Improved. This section has also been added to explain the values of q and r according to the results of the research by Puyravaud (2003). The annual deforestation rate (r) is more recommended because it is more intuitive than the rate formula formulated by FAO (q). The value of r is always higher than the value of q. In many cases, the difference between the two formulas is lower than sampling error.

199-202: Calculation of vulnerabilities has been improved and described in more detail to provide clearer information.

204-207: Methods for determining spatial patterns have been improved and explained in more detail. The spatial pattern is described based on the results of other studies to corroborate the explanation of this study.

Fig. 1: Legend has been changed and corrected based on suggestions

Fig. 3: It has been replaced with an image with a higher resolution. Explanation of spatial deforestation events in the Sulawesi region has been improved and explained better. Some additional information has also been included to improve this paper especially on methods and results.

Author Response File: Author Response.doc

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The manuscript has been improved in terms of the method presentation; however, the introduction still does not include other methodologies, and the previously mentioned method/result evaluation is still missing. 

Minor comments: the formation of the equations need to be improved and they are not labelled.  

Author Response

REVIEW ROUND 2

The introduction has been improved and added some relevant research including the related agreement. This method is a new method/approach in describing deforestation in a region and a period which has only been discussed at the rate and extent of deforestation. Related to the evaluation of methods/results using inspection data to validate findings related to events and causes of deforestation.

Improvements to the label similarities and explanations have been made.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx