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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small clearing deep in the Peruvian jungle when he noticed footsteps coming closer through the lush woodland.

He became aware he was surrounded, and stood still.

“One person was standing, pointing with an arrow,” he recalls. “Unexpectedly he became aware of my presence and I began to run.”

He ended up encountering the Mashco Piro tribe. For decades, Tomas—dwelling in the tiny community of Nueva Oceania—had been virtually a local to these nomadic tribe, who reject engagement with strangers.

A recent study by a advocacy group states exist at least 196 described as “isolated tribes” left worldwide. This tribe is considered to be the most numerous. The study states a significant portion of these tribes might be eliminated within ten years unless authorities neglect to implement further actions to defend them.

It claims the greatest risks stem from deforestation, digging or drilling for petroleum. Isolated tribes are highly vulnerable to basic sickness—as such, the study says a risk is presented by contact with proselytizers and digital content creators in pursuit of clicks.

Lately, members of the tribe have been appearing to Nueva Oceania increasingly, according to inhabitants.

This settlement is a fishermen's hamlet of several families, sitting high on the shores of the local river in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, a ten-hour journey from the most accessible town by boat.

This region is not recognised as a preserved reserve for remote communities, and timber firms operate here.

Tomas says that, sometimes, the racket of logging machinery can be detected continuously, and the community are seeing their forest disrupted and destroyed.

Among the locals, inhabitants state they are conflicted. They dread the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also possess profound regard for their “relatives” who live in the woodland and wish to defend them.

“Let them live as they live, we can't modify their way of life. For this reason we keep our distance,” explains Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the harm to the tribe's survival, the danger of aggression and the possibility that timber workers might expose the tribe to diseases they have no resistance to.

While we were in the village, the tribe appeared again. A young mother, a resident with a toddler daughter, was in the woodland picking produce when she heard them.

“We detected shouting, cries from people, a large number of them. Like there were a large gathering shouting,” she shared with us.

That was the first instance she had encountered the group and she fled. After sixty minutes, her mind was still pounding from anxiety.

“Because exist loggers and companies cutting down the woodland they are escaping, maybe out of fear and they arrive close to us,” she stated. “We are uncertain what their response may be towards us. This is what frightens me.”

Recently, a pair of timber workers were confronted by the tribe while fishing. One was wounded by an projectile to the stomach. He survived, but the second individual was found deceased subsequently with several injuries in his body.

The administration maintains a approach of non-contact with isolated people, rendering it forbidden to start encounters with them.

This approach was first adopted in Brazil following many years of campaigning by tribal advocacy organizations, who noted that first interaction with secluded communities could lead to entire communities being eliminated by sickness, poverty and malnutrition.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau community in the country came into contact with the world outside, 50% of their population succumbed within a few years. A decade later, the Muruhanua people suffered the similar destiny.

“Secluded communities are very susceptible—epidemiologically, any contact might transmit illnesses, and even the simplest ones could decimate them,” explains Issrail Aquisse from a local advocacy organization. “Culturally too, any contact or intrusion may be extremely detrimental to their existence and survival as a group.”

For those living nearby of {