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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small clearing within in the Peruvian jungle when he detected footsteps drawing near through the thick woodland.

It dawned on him he was encircled, and froze.

“A single individual was standing, directing with an arrow,” he remembers. “And somehow he detected that I was present and I started to run.”

He found himself face to face the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—dwelling in the small village of Nueva Oceania—was virtually a neighbor to these wandering tribe, who reject contact with strangers.

An updated report issued by a advocacy group states remain no fewer than 196 described as “remote communities” in existence worldwide. This tribe is believed to be the biggest. It claims half of these groups could be decimated in the next decade if governments neglect to implement more to protect them.

It argues the greatest threats stem from deforestation, extraction or operations for oil. Uncontacted groups are extremely vulnerable to common illness—consequently, it states a threat is posed by exposure with proselytizers and social media influencers in pursuit of clicks.

In recent times, Mashco Piro people have been venturing to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, as reported by residents.

The village is a fishing village of seven or eight households, located high on the edges of the local river in the heart of the of Peru rainforest, 10 hours from the most accessible settlement by canoe.

The area is not designated as a preserved reserve for uncontacted groups, and deforestation operations work here.

Tomas reports that, on occasion, the racket of industrial tools can be noticed day and night, and the tribe members are witnessing their forest damaged and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, people report they are conflicted. They are afraid of the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also possess deep regard for their “kin” residing in the jungle and want to safeguard them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we can't alter their traditions. That's why we preserve our space,” says Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the damage to the tribe's survival, the risk of conflict and the likelihood that deforestation crews might expose the community to illnesses they have no resistance to.

While we were in the village, the tribe appeared again. A young mother, a resident with a two-year-old girl, was in the forest gathering food when she noticed them.

“There were shouting, sounds from individuals, many of them. As though there was a crowd calling out,” she informed us.

It was the initial occasion she had met the tribe and she fled. Subsequently, her mind was persistently racing from fear.

“As exist loggers and firms destroying the jungle they are fleeing, perhaps because of dread and they end up near us,” she said. “It is unclear how they will behave to us. This is what frightens me.”

In 2022, a pair of timber workers were attacked by the group while fishing. A single person was struck by an arrow to the stomach. He lived, but the other man was located dead subsequently with nine arrow wounds in his frame.

The administration maintains a approach of no engagement with isolated people, establishing it as illegal to initiate interactions with them.

The policy was first adopted in a nearby nation following many years of lobbying by community representatives, who saw that first interaction with remote tribes lead to entire communities being wiped out by sickness, hardship and malnutrition.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau people in Peru made initial contact with the world outside, 50% of their community died within a short period. A decade later, the Muruhanua tribe experienced the same fate.

“Remote tribes are very susceptible—in terms of health, any contact could transmit sicknesses, and including the simplest ones might eliminate them,” states a representative from a local advocacy organization. “Culturally too, any exposure or intrusion can be highly damaging to their existence and health as a society.”

For local residents of {