Relatives in the Forest: The Battle to Protect an Isolated Rainforest Group

Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a modest open space deep in the of Peru jungle when he detected movements approaching through the dense woodland.

He realized he was hemmed in, and halted.

“One person positioned, directing with an bow and arrow,” he states. “And somehow he became aware of my presence and I started to flee.”

He found himself face to face the Mashco Piro tribe. For a long time, Tomas—who lives in the modest community of Nueva Oceania—had been almost a neighbor to these wandering individuals, who avoid contact with foreigners.

An updated document by a rights organization states remain no fewer than 196 of what it calls “isolated tribes” remaining in the world. The Mashco Piro is thought to be the biggest. It says half of these groups may be eliminated in the next decade unless authorities don't do additional measures to safeguard them.

It claims the most significant threats are from logging, extraction or operations for petroleum. Isolated tribes are highly vulnerable to common disease—consequently, the report says a risk is presented by interaction with evangelical missionaries and digital content creators looking for engagement.

In recent times, the Mashco Piro have been coming to Nueva Oceania increasingly, according to residents.

Nueva Oceania is a fishing village of several clans, sitting elevated on the shores of the Tauhamanu waterway in the heart of the Peruvian jungle, half a day from the closest village by watercraft.

The territory is not classified as a safeguarded reserve for remote communities, and timber firms operate here.

Tomas says that, at times, the noise of heavy equipment can be heard day and night, and the Mashco Piro people are seeing their forest disturbed and devastated.

Among the locals, residents state they are conflicted. They are afraid of the tribal weapons but they also possess deep respect for their “brothers” residing in the jungle and wish to safeguard them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we must not modify their way of life. For this reason we keep our space,” states Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the damage to the tribe's survival, the threat of aggression and the chance that loggers might introduce the community to illnesses they have no resistance to.

At the time in the settlement, the tribe appeared again. Letitia, a resident with a toddler child, was in the jungle collecting fruit when she detected them.

“We detected cries, shouts from people, a large number of them. As though there were a large gathering shouting,” she told us.

That was the first instance she had met the Mashco Piro and she escaped. An hour later, her mind was persistently throbbing from terror.

“Since there are loggers and firms destroying the woodland they are fleeing, possibly due to terror and they come close to us,” she stated. “It is unclear how they will behave with us. This is what frightens me.”

Recently, two individuals were attacked by the tribe while catching fish. One man was struck by an arrow to the gut. He survived, but the other person was located deceased days later with multiple puncture marks in his frame.

The Peruvian government maintains a policy of no engagement with secluded communities, establishing it as forbidden to start interactions with them.

The strategy was first adopted in a nearby nation following many years of campaigning by tribal advocacy organizations, who noted that initial contact with secluded communities could lead to entire groups being decimated by illness, destitution and hunger.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau community in Peru came into contact with the outside world, a significant portion of their community died within a short period. A decade later, the Muruhanua community faced the identical outcome.

“Isolated indigenous peoples are highly at risk—in terms of health, any exposure may spread sicknesses, and even the basic infections could decimate them,” states an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “From a societal perspective, any exposure or interference may be very harmful to their existence and well-being as a society.”

For the neighbours of {