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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a modest glade deep in the Peruvian jungle when he detected sounds drawing near through the dense woodland.

It dawned on him that he had been hemmed in, and froze.

“A single individual stood, pointing with an bow and arrow,” he recalls. “Unexpectedly he became aware of my presence and I began to flee.”

He found himself encountering members of the Mashco Piro. Over many years, Tomas—who lives in the modest settlement of Nueva Oceania—served as almost a neighbor to these itinerant people, who shun interaction with strangers.

A new study by a human rights organization indicates there are no fewer than 196 described as “remote communities” remaining globally. The group is thought to be the most numerous. The study says a significant portion of these communities may be eliminated over the coming ten years unless authorities don't do additional actions to defend them.

It argues the biggest dangers stem from timber harvesting, mining or exploration for oil. Remote communities are exceptionally susceptible to common disease—as such, it notes a risk is presented by contact with proselytizers and online personalities seeking attention.

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

The village is a fishermen's hamlet of several households, located high on the edges of the local river in the heart of the Peruvian jungle, 10 hours from the most accessible town by boat.

The territory is not recognised as a safeguarded reserve for uncontacted groups, and timber firms function here.

According to Tomas that, sometimes, the noise of industrial tools can be detected continuously, and the community are witnessing their forest disrupted and devastated.

Among the locals, inhabitants report they are torn. They dread the tribal weapons but they also possess deep respect for their “kin” who live in the forest and want to defend them.

“Allow them to live in their own way, we are unable to alter their traditions. That's why we maintain our separation,” says Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are worried about the destruction to the community's way of life, the risk of conflict and the likelihood that loggers might subject the community to sicknesses they have no immunity to.

During a visit in the settlement, the tribe made themselves known again. Letitia, a woman with a toddler daughter, was in the forest collecting fruit when she heard them.

“There were shouting, cries from individuals, many of them. As though it was a large gathering calling out,” she told us.

It was the first instance she had come across the Mashco Piro and she ran. After sixty minutes, her thoughts was still pounding from fear.

“As exist loggers and companies destroying the woodland they are fleeing, maybe out of fear and they end up near us,” she explained. “It is unclear how they will behave to us. This is what terrifies me.”

In 2022, two loggers were assaulted by the tribe while catching fish. One man was wounded by an bow to the gut. He lived, but the second individual was discovered dead after several days with several injuries in his physique.

The Peruvian government has a policy of no engagement with secluded communities, making it forbidden to commence interactions with them.

The policy was first adopted in a nearby nation subsequent to prolonged of campaigning by community representatives, who noted that initial interaction with isolated people resulted to whole populations being eliminated by sickness, destitution and hunger.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau community in the country made initial contact with the world outside, 50% of their population died within a matter of years. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua community suffered the identical outcome.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are extremely at risk—from a disease perspective, any contact could transmit sicknesses, and even the basic infections might decimate them,” says a representative from a local advocacy organization. “In cultural terms, any exposure or interference could be very harmful to their way of life and well-being as a community.”

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