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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a modest open space deep in the of Peru rainforest when he noticed movements drawing near through the dense woodland.

He realized he was hemmed in, and froze.

“A single individual positioned, directing with an arrow,” he recalls. “And somehow he became aware I was here and I started to escape.”

He ended up encountering the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—dwelling in the small settlement of Nueva Oceania—had been virtually a neighbor to these nomadic people, who avoid contact with foreigners.

A new document issued by a human rights organisation claims there are no fewer than 196 described as “isolated tribes” remaining in the world. This tribe is considered to be the most numerous. The study claims half of these tribes may be decimated in the next decade unless authorities neglect to implement more measures to safeguard them.

It argues the biggest dangers are from logging, extraction or drilling for crude. Uncontacted groups are extremely at risk to basic illness—as such, the report notes a threat is presented by contact with religious missionaries and social media influencers seeking clicks.

In recent times, Mashco Piro people have been venturing to Nueva Oceania more and more, according to locals.

The village is a fishing hamlet of a handful of clans, perched atop on the shores of the local river in the center of the of Peru jungle, half a day from the closest town by watercraft.

This region is not designated as a preserved zone for isolated tribes, and timber firms operate here.

According to Tomas that, sometimes, the racket of logging machinery can be heard day and night, and the Mashco Piro people are seeing their woodland damaged and destroyed.

Within the village, inhabitants say they are torn. They are afraid of the projectiles but they hold deep admiration for their “brothers” residing in the jungle and want to defend them.

“Let them live as they live, we must not alter their way of life. This is why we maintain our separation,” explains Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are worried about the destruction to the community's way of life, the danger of violence and the likelihood that loggers might subject the Mashco Piro to sicknesses they have no defense to.

While we were in the village, the Mashco Piro made themselves known again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a young mother with a toddler daughter, was in the forest picking produce when she detected them.

“We detected shouting, cries from people, numerous of them. Like it was a whole group calling out,” she shared with us.

It was the first time she had met the group and she escaped. After sixty minutes, her head was continually pounding from terror.

“Because there are timber workers and firms cutting down the woodland they're running away, maybe out of fear and they arrive close to us,” she stated. “We are uncertain how they might react towards us. That's what frightens me.”

In 2022, two individuals were attacked by the tribe while fishing. A single person was wounded by an projectile to the abdomen. He recovered, but the other person was located dead days later with several puncture marks in his frame.

Authorities in Peru follows a approach of no engagement with remote tribes, establishing it as illegal to start contact with them.

The strategy originated in a nearby nation after decades of campaigning by tribal advocacy organizations, who observed that early exposure with remote tribes resulted to entire groups being decimated by sickness, hardship and malnutrition.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau tribe in Peru first encountered with the world outside, half of their community died within a few years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua community faced the similar destiny.

“Remote tribes are extremely vulnerable—from a disease perspective, any contact could introduce diseases, and including the simplest ones may decimate them,” explains an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any contact or intrusion can be highly damaging to their life and health as a group.”

For local residents of {