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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a modest open space deep in the of Peru rainforest when he heard movements coming closer through the dense jungle.

He became aware that he stood surrounded, and froze.

“One person positioned, directing with an projectile,” he states. “Somehow he noticed of my presence and I commenced to escape.”

He ended up face to face the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—residing in the modest village of Nueva Oceania—was almost a local to these itinerant tribe, who avoid engagement with strangers.

A recent document issued by a human rights organization states there are no fewer than 196 of what it calls “remote communities” left globally. This tribe is considered to be the most numerous. It says half of these tribes may be decimated over the coming ten years if governments don't do additional measures to safeguard them.

The report asserts the biggest threats come from timber harvesting, digging or exploration for crude. Remote communities are exceptionally at risk to basic illness—as such, the study says a danger is caused by contact with evangelical missionaries and online personalities looking for attention.

In recent times, members of the tribe have been appearing to Nueva Oceania increasingly, according to residents.

This settlement is a fishing village of seven or eight households, perched high on the banks of the local river in the heart of the Peruvian rainforest, a ten-hour journey from the most accessible town by watercraft.

The territory is not recognised as a protected reserve for remote communities, and deforestation operations operate here.

According to Tomas that, on occasion, the racket of logging machinery can be heard around the clock, and the tribe members are seeing their jungle disturbed and ruined.

In Nueva Oceania, inhabitants state they are divided. They dread the projectiles but they hold deep respect for their “relatives” residing in the forest and desire to protect them.

“Allow them to live as they live, we can't alter their way of life. That's why we maintain our distance,” says Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the damage to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the danger of conflict and the likelihood that loggers might introduce the tribe to illnesses they have no immunity to.

During a visit in the community, the group appeared again. A young mother, a woman with a young daughter, was in the forest collecting food when she detected them.

“There were shouting, cries from people, a large number of them. As if it was a crowd yelling,” she shared with us.

That was the first instance she had encountered the group and she ran. An hour later, her thoughts was continually pounding from anxiety.

“Because there are timber workers and firms cutting down the jungle they're running away, maybe out of fear and they come in proximity to us,” she stated. “It is unclear what their response may be with us. This is what terrifies me.”

In 2022, a pair of timber workers were assaulted by the group while angling. One was hit by an projectile to the stomach. He survived, but the other man was found dead days later with several puncture marks in his frame.

The Peruvian government has a policy of no engagement with secluded communities, establishing it as forbidden to start interactions with them.

The policy originated in a nearby nation after decades of lobbying by tribal advocacy organizations, who saw that first exposure with remote tribes could lead to entire groups being eliminated by sickness, destitution and hunger.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau people in the country came into contact with the outside world, half of their community perished within a few years. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua tribe experienced the same fate.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are extremely vulnerable—in terms of health, any contact may spread illnesses, and even the simplest ones could eliminate them,” states Issrail Aquisse from a local advocacy organization. “Culturally too, any contact or intrusion may be extremely detrimental to their life and well-being as a society.”

For local residents of {