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LESSON PLANS

The Environmental Impact of Palm Oil 


Essential Question: How have palm oil plantations impacted Indigenous communities in Indonesia and the global climate as a whole, and how have activists and musicians spread awareness about the issue?

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Overview

In this lesson, students will investigate the role the cultivation of palm oil plays in global warming by examining scientific reports and calculating the amount of soil organic carbon (SOC) in the Indonesian peatlands. They will also investigate the ways indigenous activist Emmanuela Shinta and the band Navicula raise awareness about the damage palm oil plantations are doing to indigenous communities and the global environment. Finally, students will examine the possibility of harvesting palm oil in a more sustainable and ecological way by reading scientific reports and discovering the work of activists.  

 

In 2015, mass fires on the Indonesian island of Kalimantan (also known as Borneo) led to rampant pollution, decimated plant and wildlife, and released millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The cause of the fires had partly to do with natural El Nino weather patterns, but human activity contributed to their severity. 

 

Kalimantan holds the largest percentage of tropical peatlands in the world. These wetland ecosystems are characterized by peat, a marshy mixture of plant material that, due to the concentration of water, decay very slowly. 

 

The tropical peatlands of Kalimantan produce soil rich in carbon, making them attractive for agricultural development. Today, Kalimantan is dominated by palm oil plantations, which comprise over 13 million hectares of the island. The global demand for palm oil - an inexpensive, healthy vegetable oil with a long shelf-life - has incentivized private interests to develop palm oil plantations in Kalimantan. In 2016, Forbes identified that 14 of the 32 billionaires in Indonesia are in the palm oil business. 

 

These palm oil companies regularly act unethically - clearcutting or burning tropical forest land that often legally belongs to the indiginous Dayak people of Kalimantan. In 2022, palm oil tycoon Surya Darmadi was brought to trial for bribing government officials and illegally cutting down tropical forestland in Indonesian island of Sumatra. It was one of the largest corruption cases in the country’s history. 

 

The environmental impact of the palm oil plantations is devastating. Native plants and animals such as the orangutan are being displaced as their habitats are being destroyed. Water is drawn from natural peatlands into the plantations, drying them out and making them more prone to fires. In 2021, floods in Kalimantan were likely exacerbated by palm oil development, which have eradicated natural watersheds that would help limit the amount of flooding from rivers and other bodies of water. 

 

Thankfully, efforts to preserve the environment in Kalimantan are ongoing. The Dayak people are organizing and demanding the Indonesian government conduct more oversight over palm oil plantation operations. Activists such as Emmanuela Shinta are building international awareness about the issue, and many national and international environmental organizations are advocating for more sustainable methods of palm oil cultivation. And bands such as Navicula are spreading environmental awareness through their music. These combined efforts, with help from consumer demand and awareness, will hopefully lead to a future where palm oil is fairly and sustainably harvested. 

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Objectives:

  • Know (knowledge):

    • That the creation of palm oil plantations can add carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by burning and eradicating natural peat bogs

    • The creation of oil plantations have disrupted the economy and culture of Indigenous communities in Indonesia

    • Indigenous communities in Indonesia have been on the forefront of preventing peat bogs from being replaced with palm oil plantations

    • The scientific measurement of soil organic carbon

    • The activist Emmanuela Shinta, and how she is raising awareness about palm oil plantations

    • The band Navicula, and how they spread awareness about environmental issues

 

  • Mastery Objective

    • Students will be able to identify the environmental effects large palm oil plantations have on indiginous communities in Indonesia and the global climate by calculating the amount of soil organic carbon in Indonesian peatlands.

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Materials Required:

  1. Students should individually have a device with access to the internet (Chromebooks, etc.)

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Motivational Activity:

  1. Play Clip 1, “Kembali ke Akar” by Navicula. Explain that Navicula is a popular band in Indonesia. Encourage students to try to discern what the song is about based on the visuals of the music video alone. Then ask students: 

    • Which imagery in the video stuck out to you?

    • What did you notice about the setting of the video?

    • What did you notice about the costumes?

    • Considering everything you saw in the video, what might you guess the song is about?

  2. Display Image 1, “Kembali ke Akar” Lyrics. Instruct students to read the lyrics translated from Indonesian to English. Then ask students: 

    • Based on the lyrics, what might this song be about?

    • Do you feel the lyrics of the song support the visuals of the video? Why or why not?

  3. Show Image 2, Map of Indonesia. Inform students that Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia made of over 17,000 islands. Explain to students that Navicula is a band from the island of Bali, and they often focus on environmental issues in their music. 

  4. Explain that one of the many environmental issues in Indonesia is the growth of palm oil plantations. Harvested from palm trees, palm oil has a long shelf life, is high in nutrition, and relatively inexpensive. For that reason, it is one of the most popular vegetable oils used in a variety of products, and there is a huge global demand for it. 

  5. Display Show Image 3, Common Products with Palm Oil. Ask students: 

    • Based on this image, have you used a product with palm oil today? This week?

    • What product did you use?

  6. Inform students that while palm oil is useful, harvesting it can be hazardous to the environment. Explain that in class they will be investigating the environmental impact of palm oil plantations and the ways palm oil might be more sustainably harvested.

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Procedure:

 

  1. Distribute Handout - “NASA pinpoints cause of Earth's recent record carbon dioxide spike” (Excerpts). Read the handout individually, or together as a class. Then ask students:

    • What is the main point of this scientific article?

    • According to the article, why did carbon emissions spike in 2015? On what evidence do they base their conclusion?

    • Why is the research described in the article helpful?

    • Is the release of carbon dioxide normal? When does it become a problem?

    • What information might the image be revealing?

    • What was the cause of fires in Indonesia in particular?

  2. Play Clip 2, Introduction to Emmanuela Shinta (4:53-6:37). Ask students: 

    • Where does this clip take place? 

    • Who is the narrator of this clip?  

    • According to Emmanuela, what is the issue with the palm oil plantations in Kalimantan?

  3. Inform students that the narrator of the video is Emmanuela Shinta, an activist who is part of the Dayak indigenous group in Kalimantan, another island in Indonesia. 

  4. Display on the board the Global Soil Organic Carbon Map, created by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. Zoom in on Kalimantan (located here), and inform students that this is the region that will be discussed in class. 

  5. Explain that the dark dots all over the island represent the density of organic carbon in the soil. Play Clip 3, “Soil Organic Carbon – The Treasure Beneath Our Feet.” (0:00-1:13) Then ask students: 

    • According to the clip, what is “soil organic matter?” (It is the organic elements and molecules contained within soil.)

    • Why is soil organic matter helpful? (It provides nutrients to plants and increases soil porosity, which allows the soil to hold more water.)

    • What is “soil organic carbon”? (It is the carbon that is captured and held within the soil.)

    • How does carbon enter into the soil? (Plants capture C02 in the atmosphere through photosynthesis. When leaves or other organic matter from plants fall to the ground, the carbon is absorbed by the soil.) 

    • What happens to the carbon once it is in the soil? (Some stays in the soil, some is released back into the atmosphere, and some moves into the ocean.).

  6. Distribute Handout - Soil Organic Carbon Comparison Worksheet. Instruct students to go to the Global Soil Organic Carbon Map on their personal devices. As a class, go over the handout, and allow time for students to create their individual bar graphs. 

  7. Ask students to share their findings from the handout with the class. Then ask:

    • Based on what was shared in class, how does the soil organic carbon density in Kalimantan compare with the rest of the world? Would you say in general that Kalimantan has more, less, or an average amount of soil organic carbon density?

  8. Explain to students that Kalimantan has high soil organic carbon density because the island has a large percentage of peatlands.  Show Clip 4, Peatlands Definition (24:00-26:47). Then ask students: 

    • How would you describe the soil of peatlands? (It is full of organic material that didn’t decompose.)

    • Why do peatlands have such a high density of organic carbon? (Because the organic matter doesn’t decompose and it holds a lot of carbon.) 

    • According to the clip, what happens to peatlands when the water is used to irrigate plantations? (The the soil becomes dry because the water is siphoned off.)

    • What is the threat of dry peatlands? (They catch on fire more easily.)

    • What are the global ramifications of peatlands being on fire? (C02 is released into the atmosphere.)

    • What are some of the effects of peatlands burning for local indiginous people? (Pollution, the destruction of local plants and animals.)

  9. Play Clip 5, Indigenous Resistance to Palm Oil Plantations (1:24:20-1:29:52). Then ask students: 

    • ​What are some of the ways people in Kalimantan are fighting for a better environment?

    • In the clip, who might Emmanuela Shinta be speaking to? Do you think she was spreading the message in Indonesia, or somewhere else? (She was speaking to a class in City College in New York City). Why might such presentations be important to her work?

    • What were the young people’s demands in the clip? 

    • Who were they making demands of? 

    • How did they fight for their demands? 

    • What was the result of their activism?

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Summary Activity:

  1. Show Clip 6, “Soil Organic Carbon – The Treasure Beneath Our Feet.” (1:24-3:52) Then ask students: 

    1. According to this video, is it possible to continue to cultivate food while keeping carbon in the soil? What are some ways this can be done?

  2. Split students into groups, and distribute to each group Handout - Excerpt from the IUCN Report, Oil palm and biodiversity (pg 82-86). Explain to students that in their groups they will be reading the conclusion of a scientific report about palm oil. Ask student groups to summarize and be ready to share the important points of each paragraph in the excerpt. 

  3. Ask student groups to share their summaries of the report. Then ask the class: 

    1. According to this report, is it possible to cultivate palm oil while minimizing environmental damage? What are some methods of doing this? 

    2. Recall what the activists in the previous video were demanding. Were any of the demands similar to what is being proposed in this scientific report. If so, which demands?

  4. Display Image 1, “Kembali ke Akar” Lyrics  again. Ask students: 

    1. How might Navicula’s lyrics align with efforts to harvest palm oil more sustainably? 

 

Extension Activities:

  1. (Researching other orgs focused on palm oil production)

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THESE LESSONS PLANS WERE GENEROUSLY CREATED BY THE ROCK N' ROLL FOREVER FOUNDATION.

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