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Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a tiny glade within in the Peruvian rainforest when he heard movements coming closer through the thick woodland.

It dawned on him he was surrounded, and froze.

“A single individual positioned, directing using an arrow,” he remembers. “Unexpectedly he detected of my presence and I commenced to run.”

He ended up face to face members of the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—dwelling in the modest community of Nueva Oceania—had been practically a neighbour to these nomadic individuals, who shun engagement with strangers.

A recent report from a advocacy organization claims there are no fewer than 196 of what it calls “uncontacted groups” in existence globally. The group is considered to be the largest. The study claims 50% of these tribes might be decimated over the coming ten years unless authorities neglect to implement further actions to defend them.

It claims the most significant dangers are from deforestation, digging or exploration for oil. Isolated tribes are exceptionally vulnerable to basic disease—as such, the report notes a threat is presented by contact with religious missionaries and social media influencers in pursuit of attention.

In recent times, Mashco Piro people have been venturing to Nueva Oceania more and more, based on accounts from inhabitants.

Nueva Oceania is a fishermen's village of several families, sitting high on the banks of the local river in the heart of the of Peru jungle, a ten-hour journey from the most accessible settlement by canoe.

The territory is not designated as a protected area for remote communities, and logging companies function here.

According to Tomas that, sometimes, the sound of logging machinery can be noticed around the clock, and the Mashco Piro people are observing their jungle disrupted and ruined.

In Nueva Oceania, people report they are conflicted. They fear the projectiles but they hold profound respect for their “kin” dwelling in the woodland and want to defend them.

“Let them live in their own way, we are unable to alter their traditions. This is why we maintain our separation,” states Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are worried about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the threat of aggression and the chance that loggers might introduce the Mashco Piro to illnesses they have no resistance to.

While we were in the village, the group appeared again. A young mother, a resident with a young girl, was in the jungle collecting food when she noticed them.

“There were calls, sounds from people, numerous of them. As if there were a large gathering shouting,” she told us.

That was the initial occasion she had come across the group and she fled. Subsequently, her thoughts was continually throbbing from anxiety.

“Since exist deforestation crews and firms cutting down the forest they are fleeing, maybe because of dread and they end up close to us,” she explained. “We don't know what their response may be with us. This is what scares me.”

Recently, a pair of timber workers were confronted by the group while angling. One was hit by an projectile to the abdomen. He recovered, but the second individual was discovered lifeless subsequently with nine arrow wounds in his body.

The administration maintains a policy of non-contact with secluded communities, rendering it illegal to initiate contact with them.

The policy originated in the neighboring country following many years of advocacy by tribal advocacy organizations, who observed that initial contact with secluded communities could lead to whole populations being wiped out by illness, poverty and hunger.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau people in the country made initial contact with the world outside, 50% of their community succumbed within a few years. A decade later, the Muruhanua people faced the similar destiny.

“Secluded communities are extremely vulnerable—epidemiologically, any contact could transmit diseases, and including the most common illnesses might wipe them out,” states a representative from a local advocacy organization. “From a societal perspective, any interaction or intrusion may be very harmful to their life and health as a community.”

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