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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a modest open space far in the Peruvian Amazon when he heard footsteps drawing near through the dense forest.

He became aware he was hemmed in, and halted.

“One positioned, pointing with an arrow,” he recalls. “And somehow he became aware of my presence and I started to run.”

He had come confronting members of the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—dwelling in the modest settlement of Nueva Oceania—served as practically a local to these nomadic individuals, who avoid interaction with outsiders.

A new document issued by a rights organization indicates exist at least 196 of what it calls “isolated tribes” in existence globally. This tribe is considered to be the most numerous. The report says 50% of these communities might be wiped out within ten years unless authorities fail to take more to protect them.

It claims the most significant risks stem from timber harvesting, extraction or exploration for oil. Remote communities are highly vulnerable to common sickness—therefore, it says a danger is presented by exposure with proselytizers and digital content creators looking for engagement.

Recently, members of the tribe have been venturing to Nueva Oceania increasingly, according to locals.

This settlement is a fishing hamlet of seven or eight clans, located elevated on the edges of the Tauhamanu waterway in the heart of the of Peru jungle, a ten-hour journey from the closest town by watercraft.

The territory is not designated as a protected area for uncontacted groups, and timber firms work here.

Tomas says that, at times, the noise of heavy equipment can be heard around the clock, and the tribe members are observing their forest disrupted and devastated.

Within the village, people say they are torn. They are afraid of the projectiles but they hold strong regard for their “relatives” residing in the jungle and desire to protect them.

“Allow them to live in their own way, we can't alter their way of life. That's why we maintain our distance,” explains Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the destruction to the tribe's survival, the risk of violence and the chance that timber workers might expose the community to diseases they have no defense to.

At the time in the community, the group appeared again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a resident with a two-year-old girl, was in the jungle picking fruit when she heard them.

“We heard calls, shouts from individuals, numerous of them. As though it was a crowd shouting,” she informed us.

That was the initial occasion she had come across the Mashco Piro and she fled. Subsequently, her thoughts was continually racing from anxiety.

“Because there are deforestation crews and operations destroying the woodland they are fleeing, perhaps because of dread and they arrive in proximity to us,” she said. “We are uncertain how they might react to us. That's what frightens me.”

Recently, two loggers were assaulted by the group while fishing. One was struck by an bow to the abdomen. He lived, but the second individual was found dead subsequently with nine arrow wounds in his body.

The administration has a approach of avoiding interaction with isolated people, making it forbidden to start contact with them.

The policy began in Brazil following many years of advocacy by tribal advocacy organizations, who noted that first interaction with secluded communities lead to whole populations being eliminated by disease, hardship and starvation.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in the country made initial contact with the world outside, a significant portion of their people died within a few years. A decade later, the Muruhanua community suffered the identical outcome.

“Remote tribes are highly susceptible—in terms of health, any interaction may introduce sicknesses, and even the most common illnesses might eliminate them,” says Issrail Aquisse from a tribal support group. “Culturally too, any interaction or intrusion may be very harmful to their life and survival as a community.”

For those living nearby of {