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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny open space deep in the Peruvian rainforest when he heard footsteps approaching through the thick jungle.

He became aware that he had been surrounded, and halted.

“One person positioned, directing using an projectile,” he states. “And somehow he detected that I was present and I commenced to run.”

He ended up confronting members of the Mashco Piro. Over many years, Tomas—who lives in the tiny community of Nueva Oceania—was virtually a local to these itinerant tribe, who shun contact with strangers.

A new document from a advocacy organisation states exist a minimum of 196 termed “remote communities” in existence worldwide. This tribe is thought to be the largest. The report claims 50% of these communities may be decimated in the next decade unless authorities fail to take additional measures to safeguard them.

It claims the greatest threats stem from timber harvesting, extraction or exploration for crude. Uncontacted groups are exceptionally susceptible to common illness—therefore, it says a risk is caused by interaction with proselytizers and digital content creators looking for attention.

In recent times, members of the tribe have been appearing to Nueva Oceania more and more, as reported by locals.

The village is a angling village of seven or eight clans, located elevated on the shores of the Tauhamanu River in the heart of the Peruvian jungle, half a day from the closest village by watercraft.

The area is not designated as a safeguarded area for isolated tribes, and timber firms work here.

Tomas says that, at times, the racket of industrial tools can be heard day and night, and the tribe members are seeing their woodland disrupted and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, inhabitants report they are torn. They dread the tribal weapons but they also possess deep admiration for their “brothers” who live in the woodland and wish to defend them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we are unable to modify their traditions. This is why we maintain our distance,” explains Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the destruction to the community's way of life, the threat of conflict and the likelihood that timber workers might expose the Mashco Piro to sicknesses they have no immunity to.

At the time in the village, the tribe made their presence felt again. Letitia, a young mother with a two-year-old child, was in the forest collecting food when she detected them.

“We detected shouting, shouts from others, numerous of them. As if it was a whole group shouting,” she told us.

It was the first instance she had come across the Mashco Piro and she fled. An hour later, her head was continually throbbing from anxiety.

“Since operate loggers and operations cutting down the woodland they're running away, possibly out of fear and they arrive close to us,” she said. “We are uncertain how they might react with us. That's what frightens me.”

Two years ago, two individuals were attacked by the tribe while fishing. One was hit by an bow to the abdomen. He survived, but the other man was discovered deceased days later with multiple arrow wounds in his physique.

Authorities in Peru follows a policy of no engagement with remote tribes, making it prohibited to initiate contact with them.

The policy began in a nearby nation after decades of campaigning by indigenous rights groups, who observed that early exposure with isolated people could lead to whole populations being decimated by disease, hardship and malnutrition.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in Peru came into contact with the broader society, half of their population perished within a few years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua people faced the identical outcome.

“Remote tribes are extremely vulnerable—epidemiologically, any contact might introduce diseases, and even the most common illnesses might eliminate them,” says Issrail Aquisse from a tribal support group. “From a societal perspective, any exposure or interference may be very harmful to their existence and health as a group.”

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