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The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny glade deep in the of Peru jungle when he detected sounds approaching through the thick jungle.

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

“One person stood, pointing with an bow and arrow,” he remembers. “Somehow he became aware of my presence and I began to flee.”

He had come face to face the Mashco Piro tribe. For a long time, Tomas—who lives in the modest community of Nueva Oceania—had been virtually a neighbor to these wandering tribe, who reject contact with foreigners.

A recent document by a advocacy group states exist a minimum of 196 of what it calls “remote communities” in existence worldwide. This tribe is believed to be the most numerous. It states 50% of these tribes might be wiped out within ten years should administrations neglect to implement further actions to defend them.

The report asserts the biggest threats stem from deforestation, digging or drilling for oil. Uncontacted groups are highly vulnerable to common illness—therefore, the study states a threat is presented by exposure with religious missionaries and digital content creators in pursuit of attention.

Recently, the Mashco Piro have been venturing to Nueva Oceania more and more, according to residents.

Nueva Oceania is a fishing hamlet of seven or eight clans, perched elevated on the banks of the local river in the center of the Peruvian rainforest, a ten-hour journey from the nearest town by boat.

The territory is not classified as a safeguarded reserve for remote communities, and deforestation operations work here.

According to Tomas that, at times, the noise of heavy equipment can be noticed around the clock, and the community are observing their forest damaged and ruined.

Among the locals, residents say they are conflicted. They dread the tribal weapons but they hold profound respect for their “brothers” residing in the woodland and desire to safeguard them.

“Let them live as they live, we can't modify their culture. That's why we preserve our space,” says Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the destruction to the community's way of life, the danger of conflict and the likelihood that deforestation crews might expose the tribe to sicknesses they have no resistance to.

At the time in the settlement, the group appeared again. A young mother, a woman with a toddler girl, was in the woodland gathering produce when she noticed them.

“There were calls, shouts from individuals, numerous of them. As if there was a crowd shouting,” she told us.

That was the initial occasion she had come across the group and she ran. After sixty minutes, her thoughts was persistently pounding from fear.

“Because exist deforestation crews and firms cutting down the forest they are escaping, possibly due to terror and they come in proximity to us,” she stated. “It is unclear how they will behave towards us. That is the thing that frightens me.”

Two years ago, two individuals were attacked by the group while fishing. One man was wounded by an bow to the abdomen. He survived, but the second individual was discovered lifeless subsequently with nine arrow wounds in his body.

The Peruvian government has a strategy of avoiding interaction with secluded communities, establishing it as illegal to initiate contact with them.

The strategy originated in a nearby nation following many years of advocacy by community representatives, who noted that initial interaction with isolated people lead to entire groups being eliminated by disease, hardship and starvation.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau people in the country made initial contact with the outside world, half of their community succumbed within a matter of years. A decade later, the Muruhanua people experienced the identical outcome.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are highly at risk—in terms of health, any exposure might introduce sicknesses, and even the most common illnesses may decimate them,” explains an advocate from a local advocacy organization. “From a societal perspective, any interaction or disruption may be highly damaging to their existence and health as a society.”

For local residents of {