Kin within the Forest: The Fight to Protect an Isolated Amazon Tribe

The resident Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a tiny glade far in the of Peru rainforest when he heard footsteps coming closer through the lush jungle.

He became aware that he stood surrounded, and halted.

“One person positioned, pointing using an projectile,” he recalls. “And somehow he became aware I was here and I started to flee.”

He ended up encountering members of the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—who lives in the modest village of Nueva Oceania—was practically a neighbour to these wandering tribe, who reject interaction with foreigners.

A recent report by a rights organisation claims remain at least 196 termed “remote communities” in existence in the world. The group is thought to be the most numerous. The study states half of these tribes could be wiped out in the next decade if governments neglect to implement more actions to defend them.

The report asserts the biggest dangers stem from deforestation, digging or drilling for oil. Isolated tribes are highly at risk to ordinary sickness—as such, the report notes a risk is presented by exposure with proselytizers and digital content creators in pursuit of clicks.

Lately, Mashco Piro people have been coming to Nueva Oceania increasingly, based on accounts from inhabitants.

This settlement is a fishermen's hamlet of seven or eight households, perched high on the shores of the local river in the center of the Peruvian jungle, 10 hours from the most accessible town by canoe.

This region is not classified as a protected reserve for remote communities, and deforestation operations function here.

According to Tomas that, on occasion, the noise of heavy equipment can be heard day and night, and the tribe members are witnessing their woodland disturbed and destroyed.

In Nueva Oceania, residents report they are divided. They dread the Mashco Piro's arrows but they also have deep regard for their “brothers” residing in the jungle and wish to defend them.

“Let them live as they live, we can't change their culture. That's why we preserve our distance,” explains Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are worried about the destruction to the community's way of life, the risk of aggression and the possibility that deforestation crews might introduce the Mashco Piro to diseases they have no immunity to.

While we were in the community, the tribe made their presence felt again. Letitia, a woman with a toddler child, was in the forest picking produce when she detected them.

“We detected cries, sounds from individuals, numerous of them. Like it was a crowd shouting,” she informed us.

That was the first time she had encountered the tribe and she ran. An hour later, her thoughts was persistently racing from anxiety.

“As exist timber workers and firms destroying the forest they are fleeing, perhaps out of fear and they end up in proximity to us,” she explained. “We don't know how they will behave to us. That's what terrifies me.”

Two years ago, two individuals were attacked by the tribe while fishing. One man was wounded by an bow to the gut. He lived, but the second individual was found lifeless days later with multiple arrow wounds in his physique.

The Peruvian government has a strategy of no engagement with isolated people, making it prohibited to start contact with them.

The policy was first adopted in Brazil after decades of lobbying by tribal advocacy organizations, who observed that initial exposure with secluded communities lead to entire communities being wiped out by illness, destitution and hunger.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau tribe in the country made initial contact with the world outside, 50% of their people perished within a short period. A decade later, the Muruhanua people suffered the same fate.

“Secluded communities are very at risk—in terms of health, any exposure may transmit diseases, and even the most common illnesses might eliminate them,” says a representative from a tribal support group. “Culturally too, any exposure or interference may be highly damaging to their life and health as a group.”

For those living nearby of {