Soil and land degradation in the tropics can be identified and described in terms of physical, chemical,and biological changes from its pristine state brought about by natural and anthropogenic influences. Acharacteristic of these ecosystems is their capacity to recycle nutrients through soil organic matter (SOM).Following disturbance through changed land management, SOM is rapidly mineralized and there is a cor-responding decline in fertility and the variable charge component of the cation exchange capacity. As theseecosystems are strongly dependent on SOM for their functionality, changed land use can have irreversible im-pacts on the productivity of these systems. The paper focuses on quantifying chemical degradation throughprinting. Using values taken from the fingerprint of an undisturbed soil, an index of chemical degradationimprove poor quality soils in their natural condition are discussed, such as the addition of natural clays andsilicated materials. Results are present to show the effect of each of the aforementioned strategies on surfacecharge characteristics and associated increases in plant productivity.