Relatives within this Woodland: The Fight to Defend an Isolated Amazon Community

A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny glade within in the Peruvian jungle when he detected movements coming closer through the thick jungle.

It dawned on him that he had been hemmed in, and halted.

“A single individual stood, pointing with an projectile,” he recalls. “And somehow he became aware that I was present and I started to escape.”

He had come encountering the Mashco Piro tribe. For a long time, Tomas—who lives in the modest community of Nueva Oceania—had been virtually a local to these nomadic individuals, who avoid contact with foreigners.

A new report issued by a human rights organisation claims there are at least 196 described as “uncontacted groups” left globally. The Mashco Piro is thought to be the most numerous. It says half of these groups might be decimated over the coming ten years if governments fail to take more to protect them.

It argues the most significant risks are from deforestation, digging or drilling for crude. Isolated tribes are extremely vulnerable to ordinary illness—therefore, it states a threat is posed by exposure with proselytizers and digital content creators in pursuit of clicks.

In recent times, the Mashco Piro have been coming to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, as reported by residents.

The village is a fishermen's village of several clans, sitting high on the shores of the Tauhamanu River deep within the Peruvian rainforest, half a day from the closest settlement by canoe.

The territory is not recognised as a safeguarded zone for uncontacted groups, and timber firms function here.

Tomas reports that, on occasion, the racket of logging machinery can be detected day and night, and the Mashco Piro people are seeing their forest disrupted and ruined.

Within the village, residents report they are divided. They are afraid of the tribal weapons but they hold deep regard for their “relatives” dwelling in the jungle and desire to protect them.

“Allow them to live in their own way, we must not change their traditions. This is why we preserve our distance,” says Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the damage to the community's way of life, the risk of conflict and the likelihood that deforestation crews might introduce the community to diseases they have no immunity to.

During a visit in the settlement, the group made themselves known again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a woman with a young child, was in the woodland picking produce when she detected them.

“There were calls, cries from individuals, many of them. As if there were a crowd calling out,” she shared with us.

This marked the first time she had met the group and she escaped. Subsequently, her mind was continually throbbing from fear.

“Because there are deforestation crews and companies cutting down the jungle they are escaping, possibly out of fear and they end up in proximity to us,” she explained. “We don't know what their response may be to us. This is what scares me.”

Recently, two loggers were attacked by the Mashco Piro while angling. One was wounded by an arrow to the stomach. He survived, but the other person was found lifeless subsequently with multiple injuries in his frame.

The administration maintains a approach of non-contact with remote tribes, establishing it as forbidden to start interactions with them.

The policy was first adopted in a nearby nation subsequent to prolonged of lobbying by indigenous rights groups, who noted that early contact with secluded communities could lead to whole populations being decimated by sickness, destitution and malnutrition.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau people in the country made initial contact with the world outside, 50% of their community died within a matter of years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua community suffered the similar destiny.

“Secluded communities are very susceptible—from a disease perspective, any interaction could introduce diseases, and including the basic infections could wipe them out,” explains a representative from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “Culturally too, any contact or intrusion can be highly damaging to their existence and health as a society.”

For local residents of {