ABSTRACT
Soils in Malaysia are limited natural resource. In the last 30 years, Malaysia has rapidly changed from agriculture as the main source of income to industrialization, petroleum, manufacturing, tourism, and many others. This gave the country a well-projected steady growth of 7"–8" of yearly gross domestic product (GDP). This chapter focuses on the future soil issues from the perspective of idle/abandoned land in Malaysia. Soils in Malaysia are divided into three geographical regions, namely, Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak, and Sabah. Sandy soils, acid sulfate soils, and wasteland are mainly from mineral soils. Peats are formed by the accumulation of organic soil materials. Peats in Malaysia are classified as tropical lowland peats; they form a fragile ecosystem because they are dome shaped and are almost 100" organic. Malaysia is estimated to have about 2.5 million ha of peatland with southern state in Peninsular Malaysia; Johor has the highest peatlands at 205,856 ha.
