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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a modest glade far in the Peruvian Amazon when he detected footsteps coming closer through the dense woodland.

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

“One person stood, directing using an arrow,” he states. “Somehow he became aware I was here and I commenced to run.”

He ended up face to face the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—dwelling in the small village of Nueva Oceania—was almost a local to these nomadic people, who shun contact with outsiders.

An updated study by a advocacy organization indicates exist no fewer than 196 described as “isolated tribes” remaining in the world. The group is considered to be the biggest. The report says half of these communities may be eliminated in the next decade should administrations fail to take more measures to safeguard them.

It argues the most significant risks stem from timber harvesting, mining or exploration for oil. Isolated tribes are extremely vulnerable to basic disease—consequently, the study says a danger is caused by contact with religious missionaries and social media influencers in pursuit of engagement.

Lately, Mashco Piro people have been appearing to Nueva Oceania more and more, based on accounts from residents.

Nueva Oceania is a angling village of several clans, located atop on the shores of the local river in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, 10 hours from the most accessible settlement by boat.

The territory is not classified as a preserved zone for uncontacted groups, and logging companies work here.

Tomas reports that, at times, the racket of logging machinery can be noticed around the clock, and the tribe members are observing their woodland disturbed and destroyed.

Among the locals, residents say they are torn. They fear the tribal weapons but they also possess strong respect for their “kin” residing in the forest and wish to safeguard them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we must not change their way of life. This is why we keep our distance,” explains Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are worried about the destruction to the community's way of life, the risk of violence and the likelihood that deforestation crews might subject the community to sicknesses they have no resistance to.

At the time in the village, the group appeared again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a resident with a two-year-old daughter, was in the forest gathering food when she heard them.

“There were cries, sounds from individuals, a large number of them. As though there was a large gathering yelling,” she told us.

This marked the first instance she had met the Mashco Piro and she ran. An hour later, her head was still racing from anxiety.

“Since there are timber workers and operations destroying the woodland they're running away, possibly due to terror and they arrive in proximity to us,” she stated. “We are uncertain how they might react towards us. That's what scares me.”

Two years ago, a pair of timber workers were attacked by the tribe while fishing. A single person was struck by an projectile to the abdomen. He recovered, but the other man was located dead days later with several injuries in his body.

The Peruvian government follows a policy of avoiding interaction with secluded communities, establishing it as forbidden to initiate interactions with them.

The strategy was first adopted in Brazil subsequent to prolonged of campaigning by tribal advocacy organizations, who observed that first exposure with remote tribes could lead to entire groups being eliminated by disease, destitution and starvation.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in Peru made initial contact with the world outside, 50% of their community succumbed within a short period. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua tribe suffered the same fate.

“Remote tribes are very susceptible—in terms of health, any contact may transmit diseases, and even the simplest ones could eliminate them,” states an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “Culturally too, any exposure or disruption could be very harmful to their way of life and well-being as a group.”

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