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Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a tiny clearing far in the of Peru Amazon when he heard movements coming closer through the dense woodland.

It dawned on him that he had been hemmed in, and stood still.

“One person stood, aiming using an arrow,” he remembers. “And somehow he detected of my presence and I began to run.”

He ended up face to face members of the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—who lives in the small community of Nueva Oceania—was virtually a local to these wandering people, who avoid engagement with foreigners.

A recent document issued by a human rights organisation claims remain a minimum of 196 described as “isolated tribes” remaining globally. This tribe is thought to be the most numerous. The report says half of these groups might be eliminated within ten years unless authorities neglect to implement additional actions to defend them.

It argues the greatest dangers come from logging, mining or operations for crude. Uncontacted groups are highly susceptible to common illness—consequently, the report states a risk is presented by contact with proselytizers and social media influencers seeking engagement.

Recently, the Mashco Piro have been venturing to Nueva Oceania increasingly, as reported by inhabitants.

This settlement is a fishing community of a handful of families, located high on the edges of the local river in the center of the Peruvian jungle, half a day from the most accessible settlement by boat.

The area is not designated as a preserved zone for isolated tribes, and logging companies function here.

Tomas reports that, on occasion, the noise of heavy equipment can be heard continuously, and the community are observing their jungle damaged and destroyed.

Among the locals, residents state they are torn. They fear the projectiles but they also have strong respect for their “brothers” dwelling in the forest and want to protect them.

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

Residents in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the destruction to the tribe's survival, the threat of aggression and the chance that deforestation crews might subject the Mashco Piro to diseases they have no resistance to.

At the time in the settlement, the tribe made themselves known again. Letitia, a resident with a two-year-old girl, was in the jungle collecting produce when she noticed them.

“We detected shouting, cries from others, many of them. Like there was a crowd yelling,” she shared with us.

It was the first instance she had come across the Mashco Piro and she escaped. An hour later, her head was persistently pounding from anxiety.

“Because operate deforestation crews and companies cutting down the jungle they're running away, maybe because of dread and they end up near us,” she stated. “We are uncertain what their response may be towards us. This is what scares me.”

Two years ago, a pair of timber workers were attacked by the tribe while angling. One man was wounded by an bow to the gut. He recovered, but the second individual was found dead subsequently with multiple injuries in his frame.

The administration follows a approach of non-contact with secluded communities, rendering it forbidden to commence contact with them.

The policy was first adopted in Brazil subsequent to prolonged of advocacy by indigenous rights groups, who saw that initial interaction with secluded communities could lead to entire communities being decimated by sickness, destitution and hunger.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau tribe in Peru came into contact with the world outside, 50% of their population succumbed within a matter of years. A decade later, the Muruhanua people faced the same fate.

“Secluded communities are extremely susceptible—epidemiologically, any interaction may transmit sicknesses, and including the most common illnesses might wipe them out,” says Issrail Aquisse from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any exposure or disruption could be extremely detrimental to their way of life and survival as a society.”

For those living nearby of {