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Tomas Anez Dos Santos worked in a tiny glade within in the of Peru jungle when he detected movements coming closer through the lush forest.

He became aware he was surrounded, and halted.

“One person stood, aiming using an bow and arrow,” he recalls. “Unexpectedly he detected of my presence and I began to run.”

He had come encountering members of the Mashco Piro. Over many years, Tomas—dwelling in the small community of Nueva Oceania—had been virtually a local to these nomadic tribe, who reject contact with outsiders.

A new report issued by a rights group indicates remain at least 196 termed “uncontacted groups” in existence globally. The group is considered to be the most numerous. The study claims 50% of these tribes could be decimated in the next decade if governments neglect to implement more actions to defend them.

It argues the most significant dangers are from deforestation, mining or drilling for oil. Uncontacted groups are highly vulnerable to basic illness—consequently, the report states a threat is posed by exposure with evangelical missionaries and online personalities seeking attention.

Recently, the Mashco Piro have been venturing to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, according to locals.

This settlement is a fishermen's community of several households, perched atop on the edges of the Tauhamanu River in the heart of the Peruvian jungle, a ten-hour journey from the closest village by watercraft.

The area is not classified as a safeguarded area for isolated tribes, and logging companies operate here.

According to Tomas that, at times, the noise of heavy equipment can be noticed around the clock, and the community are seeing their jungle damaged and destroyed.

Among the locals, people state they are divided. They fear the tribal weapons but they also possess strong respect for their “kin” dwelling in the jungle and want to safeguard them.

“Permit them to live as they live, we must not alter their traditions. This is why we preserve our distance,” explains Tomas.

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

During a visit in the settlement, the group appeared again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a woman with a two-year-old child, was in the woodland gathering produce when she heard them.

“There were cries, shouts from people, a large number of them. As though it was a large gathering calling out,” she shared with us.

It was the initial occasion she had come across the tribe and she fled. An hour later, her head was persistently racing from terror.

“As operate timber workers and firms destroying the woodland they are escaping, maybe due to terror and they arrive near us,” she stated. “It is unclear how they might react towards us. That's what scares me.”

Recently, two loggers were assaulted by the tribe while fishing. One man was hit by an arrow to the abdomen. He survived, but the second individual was found dead days later with several puncture marks in his physique.

The administration maintains a approach of no engagement with isolated people, establishing it as prohibited to initiate interactions with them.

The strategy began in the neighboring country following many years of campaigning by indigenous rights groups, who noted that initial contact with secluded communities resulted to entire communities being wiped out by sickness, hardship and starvation.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau community in Peru first encountered with the broader society, a significant portion of their population perished within a short period. A decade later, the Muruhanua tribe faced the same fate.

“Remote tribes are highly vulnerable—in terms of health, any exposure may transmit diseases, and even the most common illnesses might decimate them,” says a representative from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “In cultural terms, any exposure or intrusion may be highly damaging to their existence and well-being as a group.”

For local residents of {