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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a tiny open space far in the of Peru jungle when he noticed movements drawing near through the lush woodland.

It dawned on him that he stood surrounded, and froze.

“One positioned, aiming using an projectile,” he remembers. “And somehow he noticed of my presence and I started to run.”

He found himself encountering the Mashco Piro tribe. For a long time, Tomas—who lives in the small settlement of Nueva Oceania—served as virtually a neighbour to these nomadic tribe, who shun interaction with strangers.

A new report from a human rights group claims remain no fewer than 196 described as “uncontacted groups” in existence worldwide. This tribe is thought to be the largest. It says a significant portion of these communities might be eliminated in the next decade if governments don't do further measures to safeguard them.

It argues the biggest threats stem from logging, mining or operations for oil. Remote communities are extremely vulnerable to ordinary illness—therefore, the report says a risk is posed by contact with evangelical missionaries and online personalities looking for engagement.

Lately, members of the tribe have been coming to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, based on accounts from residents.

The village is a angling hamlet of several households, sitting elevated on the banks of the Tauhamanu waterway in the center of the Peruvian Amazon, a ten-hour journey from the nearest settlement by boat.

This region is not designated as a protected area for isolated tribes, and deforestation operations work here.

Tomas reports that, on occasion, the sound of logging machinery can be noticed around the clock, and the Mashco Piro people are witnessing their woodland damaged and ruined.

Within the village, people say they are torn. They are afraid of the Mashco Piro's arrows but they hold profound regard for their “relatives” residing in the woodland and wish to protect them.

“Allow them to live according to their traditions, we can't change their culture. That's why we preserve our distance,” states Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are worried about the destruction to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the risk of violence and the chance that timber workers might subject the tribe to diseases they have no resistance to.

While we were in the community, the group made their presence felt again. A young mother, a woman with a young daughter, was in the forest gathering produce when she heard them.

“We heard shouting, shouts from individuals, numerous of them. As though it was a whole group shouting,” she shared with us.

This marked the first instance she had come across the tribe and she fled. An hour later, her head was persistently racing from fear.

“As exist timber workers and firms clearing the jungle they're running away, perhaps out of fear and they arrive in proximity to us,” she said. “We are uncertain how they might react with us. This is what frightens me.”

Recently, a pair of timber workers were assaulted by the tribe while catching fish. One man was wounded by an projectile to the stomach. He lived, but the other man was found deceased days later with several puncture marks in his physique.

The administration maintains a policy of avoiding interaction with remote tribes, making it illegal to initiate contact with them.

This approach originated in the neighboring country following many years of advocacy by community representatives, who observed that first contact with secluded communities resulted to whole populations being wiped out by sickness, destitution and starvation.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau community in the country first encountered with the world outside, 50% of their people died within a matter of years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua people faced the similar destiny.

“Secluded communities are very at risk—epidemiologically, any interaction could transmit diseases, and including the basic infections could eliminate them,” explains an advocate from a tribal support group. “From a societal perspective, any contact or disruption may be highly damaging to their existence and well-being as a society.”

For local residents of {