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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small open space far in the Peruvian Amazon when he heard footsteps approaching through the lush forest.

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

“One positioned, aiming using an arrow,” he remembers. “Unexpectedly he detected of my presence and I began to flee.”

He had come confronting the Mashco Piro tribe. For a long time, Tomas—residing in the tiny settlement of Nueva Oceania—had been virtually a neighbour to these nomadic people, who reject interaction with strangers.

A new document issued by a rights group claims remain a minimum of 196 of what it calls “remote communities” left globally. The Mashco Piro is believed to be the biggest. The study states 50% of these communities might be wiped out in the next decade unless authorities neglect to implement further to protect them.

It argues the biggest dangers are from deforestation, digging or drilling for oil. Remote communities are exceptionally vulnerable to common illness—as such, the report notes a danger is caused by contact with proselytizers and social media influencers seeking engagement.

In recent times, members of the tribe have been coming to Nueva Oceania increasingly, as reported by locals.

Nueva Oceania is a angling hamlet of a handful of families, sitting atop on the banks of the Tauhamanu River in the heart of the of Peru jungle, 10 hours from the most accessible settlement by canoe.

This region is not designated as a preserved reserve for remote communities, and timber firms operate here.

According to Tomas that, at times, the racket of industrial tools can be noticed continuously, and the Mashco Piro people are observing their jungle disrupted and destroyed.

Among the locals, inhabitants state they are divided. They fear the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also possess deep regard for their “kin” residing in the jungle and wish to protect them.

“Let them live in their own way, we must not modify their traditions. This is why we preserve our separation,” says Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the harm to the community's way of life, the risk of violence and the possibility that loggers might expose the Mashco Piro to illnesses they have no resistance to.

At the time in the community, the Mashco Piro made their presence felt again. Letitia, a young mother with a two-year-old daughter, was in the woodland gathering produce when she heard them.

“There were calls, cries from individuals, many of them. As though there were a whole group shouting,” she informed us.

That was the first time she had come across the tribe and she escaped. Subsequently, her thoughts was persistently pounding from anxiety.

“As there are deforestation crews and firms cutting down the jungle they're running away, possibly due to terror and they end up in proximity to us,” she said. “It is unclear how they will behave with us. That is the thing that terrifies me.”

Two years ago, two loggers were attacked by the tribe while fishing. One was wounded by an bow to the abdomen. He lived, but the other man was discovered deceased subsequently with several injuries in his frame.

The administration has a approach of no engagement with isolated people, establishing it as illegal to initiate encounters with them.

The strategy was first adopted in the neighboring country following many years of campaigning by tribal advocacy organizations, who observed that initial exposure with remote tribes resulted to entire groups being eliminated by sickness, poverty and starvation.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau community in the country came into contact with the world outside, 50% of their people perished within a few years. A decade later, the Muruhanua people suffered the identical outcome.

“Remote tribes are very at risk—from a disease perspective, any exposure may introduce illnesses, and including the most common illnesses may wipe them out,” explains Issrail Aquisse from a tribal support group. “Culturally too, any exposure or intrusion may be highly damaging to their existence and well-being as a group.”

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