The Kawengan teak forest: peaceful and shadowy. The dense teak leaves shade the winding road heading toward old oil fields on the border of Cepu (Central Java) and Bojonegoro (East Java). In the distance, you can hear the sound of a steel rope scraping against a pulley hoisting a bucket, interspersed with shouts of instructions to pull. Those sounds have been heard since 1942, when the villagers first took control of the wells.

Drilling for