Kila Oumabe: Representing women

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Kila Oumabe, of the Beseremen clan from Komaio village, is a Papua New Guinean resource owner.

Kila Oumabe, Beseremen clan, has experienced life at the hands of the loggers of the Turama Extension. She speaks out on behalf of all women living in the extension.

Kila Oumabe is a mother of three daughters and three adopted children. She is on the frontline of impacts from Turama Forest Industries' rainforest logging in Papua New Guinea.

Kila is a representative of all the women living in the 1.7 million hectares of the Turama Extension. Her experiences are typical of women across the extension. Kila spoke to Greenpeace in September 2008, during our ship tour of the Paradise Forests:

"I have to walk six to eight kilometres to find food for my family," she says. "It takes all day. Before it used to take two to three hours or half a day. I used to walk out my back door to find the plants and animals to feed my family. Sometimes a woman can’t find anything and comes home at 9 o’clock or midnight and cooks sago only and goes to sleep."

"The children sometimes complain and cry. So we explain to them what has happened.

"At this stage the animals and the fish – which are eaten for the strength of the family - are hard to find. Now they are some kilometres away because the machinery is too noisy and the trees have been cut down."

The Papua New Guinean government has ignored many complaints from resource owners about serious breaches of the logging code of practice by Turama Forest Industries.

Watch video of Kila addressing resource owners in Papua New Guinea:

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Taking away the tulip trees

The people in the Turama Extension area are forest people. The tulip tree is significant in this part of Papua New Guinea.

"Everybody is taught how to use this tree. The tree is very important for rope, string, and food. We eat the leaves like cabbage everyday. From the bark of the tree we make string bags called bilums. Our great-grandmothers taught us. And will in the future too!" says Kila, smiling.

"We put baby inside the string bag, go to the bush to make sago, look for fish, go gardening. They are the most special tree for us. When the logging operation comes, they go to a place to get the logs, when the tulip tree is in the way they are knocked down."

The women of Turama Extension know what they want for their future.

"The (logging) project is with us today. We women want to be included in the benefits that come from the forestry... We thought that we were going to receive something for 13 solid years. Instead, the situation keeps getting worse and worse every day. We all want to be recognised. We want separate funding for the women.

"The logging workers are from other parts of PNG and from overseas. When we want to talk to them, they ignore us. When we need help [like going into] labour and sickness, very big accidents. They do not accept us, they ignore us. But this is our land, our resources.

"Right now, there are woman at all the [forestry] camps. At the protests the women are going to lead. They are there with their bags packed. The woman have gathered.

"I told them, 'Don't fear, let's move'."

What is the Turama Extension?

In 1988, a logging permit was granted in Gulf province, PNG, to Turama Forest Industries, covering 187,000 hectares. Over the next 14 years, around 80,000 hectares of ancient forest was logged. In 1995, the Papua New Guinea government granted an astounding 1.7 million hectares as a logging ‘extension’ to Turama Forest Industries – the extension was almost 10 times bigger than the original concession. The timber permit for this new concession, called Turama Extension is valid for 35 years (until 2030). Most timber permits are only valid for 10 years.