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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny glade within in the of Peru jungle when he detected movements coming closer through the lush woodland.

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

“A single individual was standing, aiming with an arrow,” he states. “Somehow he became aware that I was present and I commenced to flee.”

He had come encountering the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—who lives in the modest settlement of Nueva Oceania—served as virtually a neighbour to these nomadic individuals, who avoid engagement with outsiders.

A new study issued by a human rights group claims exist no fewer than 196 termed “remote communities” in existence worldwide. The group is believed to be the largest. The study says 50% of these tribes might be wiped out within ten years if governments fail to take more actions to defend them.

It argues the biggest threats stem from deforestation, mining or operations for oil. Uncontacted groups are extremely vulnerable to common sickness—as such, it says a risk is caused by contact with religious missionaries and online personalities in pursuit of engagement.

Recently, Mashco Piro people have been coming to Nueva Oceania more and more, according to locals.

The village is a fishermen's community of seven or eight households, sitting atop on the shores of the local river in the heart of the of Peru jungle, a ten-hour journey from the most accessible town by watercraft.

The territory is not classified as a protected area for remote communities, and logging companies work here.

Tomas says that, sometimes, the racket of logging machinery can be detected around the clock, and the community are witnessing their forest disturbed and ruined.

Among the locals, residents say they are conflicted. They dread the projectiles but they also have profound regard for their “brothers” who live in the woodland and wish to safeguard them.

“Allow them to live as they live, we must not change their traditions. For this reason we keep our space,” says Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the danger of violence and the likelihood that timber workers might introduce the Mashco Piro to illnesses they have no resistance to.

During a visit in the village, the Mashco Piro made themselves known again. Letitia, a young mother with a young child, was in the forest gathering food when she detected them.

“There were calls, cries from people, many of them. Like it was a whole group calling out,” she informed us.

It was the first instance she had encountered the group and she ran. After sixty minutes, her head was still pounding from anxiety.

“Because exist deforestation crews and operations cutting down the jungle they are escaping, maybe out of fear and they arrive near us,” she explained. “We don't know how they will behave towards us. That is the thing that scares me.”

Two years ago, two individuals were assaulted by the group while catching fish. One was hit by an bow to the stomach. He lived, but the other person was discovered lifeless subsequently with several puncture marks in his frame.

Authorities in Peru has a approach of non-contact with isolated people, making it forbidden to start contact with them.

This approach originated in Brazil after decades of advocacy by community representatives, who noted that early interaction with secluded communities resulted to entire groups being decimated by illness, poverty and starvation.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau community in Peru first encountered with the broader society, half of their community succumbed within a short period. A decade later, the Muruhanua community faced the identical outcome.

“Remote tribes are extremely at risk—epidemiologically, any exposure may spread illnesses, and including the simplest ones might wipe them out,” says a representative from a tribal support group. “From a societal perspective, any contact or interference may be highly damaging to their way of life and well-being as a society.”

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