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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a modest glade far in the of Peru rainforest when he heard sounds coming closer through the dense forest.

He realized he was encircled, and stood still.

“One was standing, directing with an projectile,” he recalls. “And somehow he detected I was here and I started to flee.”

He ended up encountering members of the Mashco Piro. Over many years, Tomas—who lives in the small community of Nueva Oceania—had been virtually a local to these nomadic people, who reject interaction with strangers.

A recent study issued by a human rights organization indicates remain no fewer than 196 described as “remote communities” in existence in the world. The group is thought to be the biggest. It says 50% of these communities might be decimated within ten years should administrations don't do additional actions to defend them.

It argues the biggest threats are from logging, digging or drilling for oil. Uncontacted groups are extremely at risk to basic illness—as such, it states a threat is caused by interaction with proselytizers and digital content creators looking for engagement.

Recently, the Mashco Piro have been coming to Nueva Oceania increasingly, according to locals.

The village is a fishermen's community of a handful of clans, sitting high on the shores of the local river deep within the Peruvian jungle, half a day from the nearest settlement by boat.

The territory is not recognised as a preserved reserve for isolated tribes, and logging companies work here.

Tomas reports that, at times, the sound of heavy equipment can be heard day and night, and the community are observing their forest disturbed and destroyed.

In Nueva Oceania, people say they are torn. They are afraid of the tribal weapons but they also possess profound respect for their “brothers” dwelling in the woodland and desire to defend them.

“Permit them to live in their own way, we can't change their traditions. That's why we maintain our space,” says Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the damage to the tribe's survival, the risk of aggression and the possibility that timber workers might introduce the tribe to sicknesses they have no resistance to.

During a visit in the village, the Mashco Piro made their presence felt again. Letitia, a young mother with a young girl, was in the jungle picking produce when she detected them.

“There were shouting, sounds from others, a large number of them. Like there was a whole group shouting,” she informed us.

That was the first time she had come across the tribe and she escaped. Subsequently, her mind was still racing from fear.

“Because exist timber workers and firms clearing the woodland they're running away, perhaps due to terror and they arrive close to us,” she stated. “We are uncertain how they might react to us. This is what frightens me.”

In 2022, two individuals were assaulted by the Mashco Piro while catching fish. One was struck by an projectile to the abdomen. He lived, but the other man was located lifeless after several days with several arrow wounds in his physique.

Authorities in Peru has a strategy of non-contact with isolated people, rendering it prohibited to start contact with them.

This approach began in a nearby nation following many years of campaigning by indigenous rights groups, who observed that early interaction with isolated people resulted to entire groups being wiped out by sickness, destitution and starvation.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau community in Peru came into contact with the world outside, half of their people died within a few years. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua tribe faced the same fate.

“Remote tribes are extremely vulnerable—from a disease perspective, any contact might transmit sicknesses, and even the simplest ones could wipe them out,” explains a representative from a local advocacy organization. “Culturally too, any interaction or disruption may be highly damaging to their existence and health as a group.”

For local residents of {