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Tomas Anez Dos Santos was laboring in a tiny clearing deep in the of Peru Amazon when he heard sounds coming closer through the dense jungle.

He realized that he stood encircled, and halted.

“One person positioned, directing using an bow and arrow,” he remembers. “Unexpectedly he became aware of my presence and I began to escape.”

He had come encountering the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—who lives in the small village of Nueva Oceania—had been practically a local to these nomadic tribe, who reject contact with outsiders.

A recent document issued by a rights organisation indicates there are no fewer than 196 of what it calls “isolated tribes” left globally. The group is believed to be the biggest. The study states 50% of these communities could be wiped out in the next decade if governments don't do more actions to defend them.

It argues the biggest threats are from deforestation, extraction or exploration for crude. Remote communities are extremely vulnerable to ordinary illness—therefore, it states a threat is caused by exposure with religious missionaries and online personalities looking for attention.

Recently, the Mashco Piro have been venturing to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, as reported by inhabitants.

This settlement is a fishermen's hamlet of several households, located atop on the banks of the Tauhamanu waterway in the heart of the of Peru rainforest, 10 hours from the nearest settlement by boat.

The area is not recognised as a preserved zone for uncontacted groups, and timber firms work here.

Tomas says that, on occasion, the sound of industrial tools can be detected around the clock, and the community are seeing their jungle damaged and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, residents say they are torn. They fear the projectiles but they also possess strong respect for their “brothers” residing in the jungle and wish to defend them.

“Let them live in their own way, we are unable to change their traditions. For this reason we preserve our distance,” says Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are worried about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the danger of violence and the chance that timber workers might expose the community to sicknesses they have no defense to.

At the time in the community, the group made their presence felt again. A young mother, a resident with a toddler girl, was in the woodland picking fruit when she noticed them.

“We heard cries, cries from individuals, many of them. As if there was a whole group calling out,” she shared with us.

That was the initial occasion she had met the tribe and she ran. Subsequently, her thoughts was still throbbing from fear.

“Since exist deforestation crews and companies destroying the woodland they are fleeing, maybe because of dread and they arrive near us,” she stated. “We are uncertain how they will behave to us. That's what frightens me.”

Two years ago, two loggers were assaulted by the Mashco Piro while catching fish. A single person was struck by an bow to the stomach. He survived, but the other man was discovered dead subsequently with several arrow wounds in his physique.

The administration follows a policy of non-contact with secluded communities, making it prohibited to commence contact with them.

The policy was first adopted in the neighboring country following many years of advocacy by tribal advocacy organizations, who noted that early interaction with secluded communities resulted to entire communities being eliminated by illness, destitution and malnutrition.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau community in the country made initial contact with the broader society, half of their community succumbed within a short period. A decade later, the Muruhanua community faced the identical outcome.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are highly vulnerable—epidemiologically, any contact might transmit sicknesses, and even the basic infections could wipe them out,” explains Issrail Aquisse from a tribal support group. “Culturally too, any contact or intrusion can be highly damaging to their way of life and well-being as a group.”

For local residents of {