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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small clearing far in the Peruvian rainforest when he detected sounds drawing near through the dense woodland.

He realized that he stood hemmed in, and stood still.

“One was standing, directing using an arrow,” he recalls. “Somehow he became aware I was here and I started to flee.”

He found himself face to face the Mashco Piro tribe. For decades, Tomas—who lives in the tiny village of Nueva Oceania—was almost a neighbour to these itinerant individuals, who avoid interaction with foreigners.

A new study by a advocacy organization claims exist at least 196 of what it calls “isolated tribes” in existence in the world. The group is believed to be the most numerous. The report says a significant portion of these groups might be eliminated within ten years unless authorities don't do further measures to safeguard them.

It argues the biggest risks are from deforestation, digging or drilling for crude. Remote communities are exceptionally susceptible to common disease—therefore, the report says a risk is caused by exposure with proselytizers and online personalities in pursuit of engagement.

Recently, the Mashco Piro have been appearing to Nueva Oceania more and more, as reported by residents.

Nueva Oceania is a fishermen's community of several households, perched atop on the banks of the Tauhamanu waterway deep within the of Peru Amazon, half a day from the closest village by boat.

The territory is not designated as a safeguarded reserve for remote communities, and timber firms work here.

According to Tomas that, on occasion, the noise of logging machinery can be noticed continuously, and the Mashco Piro people are observing their woodland disturbed and destroyed.

Within the village, people say they are divided. They are afraid of the tribal weapons but they also possess strong respect for their “relatives” residing in the woodland and desire to defend them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we must not change their way of life. That's why we maintain our space,” states Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the harm to the tribe's survival, the risk of violence and the likelihood that deforestation crews might expose the Mashco Piro to sicknesses they have no immunity to.

At the time in the village, the group made themselves known again. Letitia, a woman with a young daughter, was in the forest gathering fruit when she noticed them.

“We detected cries, cries from others, a large number of them. As though it was a crowd calling out,” she informed us.

That was the initial occasion she had come across the group and she ran. Subsequently, her head was still pounding from anxiety.

“As operate deforestation crews and firms destroying the jungle they're running away, maybe because of dread and they arrive close to us,” she said. “We don't know how they might react towards us. This is what frightens me.”

In 2022, two loggers were assaulted by the tribe while catching fish. One was hit by an projectile to the gut. He recovered, but the second individual was found lifeless after several days with multiple injuries in his frame.

Authorities in Peru follows a policy of no engagement with secluded communities, establishing it as forbidden to start contact with them.

The strategy began in a nearby nation after decades of campaigning by indigenous rights groups, who noted that early exposure with isolated people could lead to entire communities being decimated by illness, hardship and hunger.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau community in the country made initial contact with the broader society, half of their community died within a short period. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua tribe experienced the similar destiny.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are highly vulnerable—in terms of health, any exposure could introduce sicknesses, and including the most common illnesses could eliminate them,” states Issrail Aquisse from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “Culturally too, any interaction or interference may be highly damaging to their way of life and health as a society.”

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