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A man named Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a small clearing far in the Peruvian rainforest when he noticed sounds coming closer through the dense forest.

It dawned on him he was hemmed in, and halted.

“A single individual was standing, pointing with an arrow,” he recalls. “Somehow he became aware I was here and I began to run.”

He found himself encountering the Mashco Piro tribe. Over many years, Tomas—dwelling in the tiny village of Nueva Oceania—was almost a neighbor to these wandering individuals, who avoid contact with foreigners.

A new study from a rights group claims there are at least 196 described as “remote communities” remaining in the world. This tribe is thought to be the biggest. The study says half of these tribes might be decimated over the coming ten years should administrations neglect to implement more to protect them.

The report asserts the biggest risks are from timber harvesting, mining or drilling for oil. Isolated tribes are extremely vulnerable to ordinary disease—therefore, the report notes a danger is caused by interaction with religious missionaries and online personalities in pursuit of clicks.

In recent times, Mashco Piro people have been coming to Nueva Oceania with greater frequency, according to locals.

The village is a fishing hamlet of a handful of families, sitting atop on the shores of the Tauhamanu River deep within the of Peru Amazon, 10 hours from the closest village by watercraft.

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

Tomas says that, sometimes, the racket of industrial tools can be noticed day and night, and the tribe members are seeing their jungle disrupted and ruined.

In Nueva Oceania, residents say they are divided. They dread the tribal weapons but they also have strong regard for their “kin” who live in the forest and desire to protect them.

“Let them live as they live, we must not change their culture. For this reason we keep our space,” explains Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the destruction to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the risk of violence and the chance that deforestation crews might expose the tribe to illnesses they have no defense to.

During a visit in the village, the group made their presence felt again. Letitia Rodriguez Lopez, a young mother with a toddler daughter, was in the forest picking fruit when she heard them.

“We detected shouting, shouts from individuals, a large number of them. As if there were a crowd calling out,” she shared with us.

That was the initial occasion she had come across the Mashco Piro and she ran. An hour later, her mind was persistently throbbing from terror.

“As there are timber workers and operations cutting down the forest they are fleeing, perhaps out of fear and they come near us,” she said. “We don't know how they will behave towards us. This is what terrifies me.”

Two years ago, two loggers were confronted by the Mashco Piro while catching fish. One man was hit by an bow to the stomach. He recovered, but the other person was located deceased after several days with nine puncture marks in his frame.

Authorities in Peru maintains a approach of no engagement with secluded communities, making it forbidden to start contact with them.

The strategy originated in the neighboring country after decades of lobbying by tribal advocacy organizations, who noted that early exposure with secluded communities could lead to entire groups being wiped out by illness, destitution and malnutrition.

During the 1980s, when the Nahau people in the country made initial contact with the broader society, half of their population died within a few years. During the 1990s, the Muruhanua tribe experienced the similar destiny.

“Secluded communities are very vulnerable—in terms of health, any exposure could introduce diseases, and even the simplest ones could eliminate them,” says an advocate from a Peruvian indigenous rights group. “Culturally too, any exposure or intrusion can be extremely detrimental to their way of life and health as a group.”

For local residents of {