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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small open space within in the Peruvian jungle when he noticed footsteps drawing near through the lush woodland.

He became aware that he had been hemmed in, and halted.

“One person was standing, aiming using an projectile,” he remembers. “And somehow he became aware I was here and I started to escape.”

He ended up encountering members of the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—residing in the tiny community of Nueva Oceania—had been practically a neighbor to these itinerant people, who reject contact with outsiders.

A new document issued by a human rights group claims remain no fewer than 196 described as “remote communities” in existence in the world. The group is considered to be the most numerous. The study says 50% of these tribes may be wiped out over the coming ten years should administrations don't do further actions to defend them.

It argues the greatest threats are from logging, mining or operations for oil. Uncontacted groups are exceptionally susceptible to ordinary illness—as such, the report says a threat is posed by exposure with evangelical missionaries and digital content creators seeking engagement.

In recent times, members of the tribe have been coming to Nueva Oceania increasingly, according to locals.

This settlement is a fishermen's community of a handful of families, perched high on the edges of the local river in the center of the Peruvian jungle, half a day from the closest village by watercraft.

The area is not recognised as a preserved zone for isolated tribes, and logging companies work here.

According to Tomas that, on occasion, the noise of logging machinery can be heard day and night, and the tribe members are observing their woodland damaged and devastated.

In Nueva Oceania, residents say they are torn. They are afraid of the projectiles but they hold deep admiration for their “kin” who live in the jungle and want to protect them.

“Allow them to live according to their traditions, we must not modify their traditions. For this reason we preserve our separation,” states Tomas.

The people in Nueva Oceania are concerned about the damage to the community's way of life, the danger of violence and the chance that deforestation crews might subject the community to diseases they have no defense to.

At the time in the settlement, the tribe appeared again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a resident with a young daughter, was in the woodland picking produce when she detected them.

“We detected cries, shouts from people, numerous of them. Like it was a large gathering shouting,” she shared with us.

That was the first instance she had met the tribe and she fled. An hour later, her thoughts was still throbbing from terror.

“Because operate loggers and operations destroying the woodland they are escaping, possibly due to terror and they end up near us,” she said. “It is unclear what their response may be with us. That's what terrifies me.”

Two years ago, a pair of timber workers were assaulted by the group while catching fish. One man was wounded by an projectile to the stomach. He lived, but the second individual was located deceased days later with nine injuries in his physique.

The administration maintains a strategy of non-contact with remote tribes, rendering it forbidden to commence encounters with them.

This approach originated in a nearby nation following many years of lobbying by indigenous rights groups, who saw that first interaction with remote tribes lead to entire communities being wiped out by disease, destitution and hunger.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau people in the country came into contact with the world outside, 50% of their people succumbed within a few years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua people experienced the similar destiny.

“Secluded communities are highly susceptible—in terms of health, any exposure may spread illnesses, and including the most common illnesses could eliminate them,” explains Issrail Aquisse from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any contact or disruption may be extremely detrimental to their life and well-being as a society.”

For local residents of {