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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a small open space far in the of Peru Amazon when he heard movements drawing near through the lush forest.

He realized that he had been hemmed in, and stood still.

“One was standing, directing using an bow and arrow,” he recalls. “And somehow he detected I was here and I commenced to run.”

He had come confronting the Mashco Piro tribe. For a long time, Tomas—who lives in the modest village of Nueva Oceania—was virtually a neighbor to these nomadic individuals, who reject contact with outsiders.

A recent document by a rights group indicates remain a minimum of 196 of what it calls “uncontacted groups” left globally. The Mashco Piro is considered to be the largest. The study states 50% of these groups could be decimated within ten years unless authorities neglect to implement more actions to defend them.

It argues the most significant risks come from timber harvesting, digging or drilling for petroleum. Remote communities are extremely susceptible to basic sickness—consequently, the report says a danger is posed by exposure with evangelical missionaries and social media influencers looking for clicks.

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

The village is a fishing village of seven or eight households, located elevated on the banks of the local river in the heart of the Peruvian rainforest, 10 hours from the nearest town by watercraft.

This region is not recognised as a preserved zone for remote communities, and deforestation operations function here.

Tomas reports that, at times, the sound of industrial tools can be detected around the clock, and the Mashco Piro people are witnessing their jungle damaged and devastated.

Among the locals, inhabitants report they are conflicted. They dread the Mashco Piro's arrows but they hold strong regard for their “brothers” residing in the woodland and desire to defend them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we can't alter their traditions. For this reason we keep our separation,” says Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are worried about the damage to the tribe's survival, the danger of violence and the chance that deforestation crews might expose the tribe to diseases they have no defense to.

At the time in the settlement, the group made their presence felt again. Letitia, a resident with a two-year-old child, was in the woodland collecting food when she heard them.

“We detected calls, sounds from individuals, many of them. As if there were a large gathering yelling,” she informed us.

It was the initial occasion she had encountered the group and she fled. An hour later, her thoughts was persistently racing from terror.

“As there are deforestation crews and companies destroying the forest they are fleeing, maybe because of dread and they come near us,” she said. “We are uncertain how they will behave towards us. That is the thing that frightens me.”

Two years ago, two individuals were confronted by the tribe while fishing. One man was struck by an bow to the abdomen. He recovered, but the second individual was found lifeless days later with several puncture marks in his body.

The administration follows a policy of avoiding interaction with isolated people, rendering it illegal to commence contact with them.

The policy originated in a nearby nation after decades of campaigning by community representatives, who observed that initial contact with isolated people could lead to entire groups being wiped out by illness, destitution and starvation.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in the country first encountered with the outside world, a significant portion of their community perished within a short period. In the 1990s, the Muruhanua people faced the same fate.

“Secluded communities are very vulnerable—from a disease perspective, any contact might spread diseases, and including the basic infections may decimate them,” explains Issrail Aquisse from a tribal support group. “In cultural terms, any contact or interference could be very harmful to their way of life and well-being as a group.”

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