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World’s Soil Resources

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10.5.2 | Case study for Indonesia<br />

Topography, climate, soil parent materials and anthropogenic factors determine the various types and<br />

degree of soil threats in Indonesia. These threats include soil carbon depletion both for mineral and organic<br />

soils, erosion by water, soil contamination, soil acidification and nutrient imbalance. <strong>Soil</strong> organic carbon<br />

depletion in peat is the most significant threat.<br />

<strong>Soil</strong> erosion threats are found in almost all hilly and mountainous landscapes of the Indonesian archipelago<br />

due to the very high (>2000 mm) annual rainfall over most of the area (83 percent). Most other sloping areas<br />

with lower rainfall are also affected by erosion due to the high intensity of the monsoonal rainfall during the<br />

rainy season (Agus, Amien and Sutono, 2002). Besides causing erosion, the high rainfall also leads to leaching<br />

of basic cations and hence to soil acidification. The main problems associated with managing acid soil are low<br />

pH, P-fixation, low basic cation concentration, low cation exchange capacity (CEC) and toxicity of soluble Al<br />

and Fe.<br />

The total area of Indonesian acid upland soils (pH

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