Brothers in this Woodland: The Fight to Defend an Remote Rainforest Tribe

Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a small glade deep in the of Peru rainforest when he detected sounds approaching through the dense woodland.

He realized that he stood encircled, and stood still.

“One person stood, pointing using an projectile,” he states. “Unexpectedly he detected that I was present and I began to run.”

He ended up face to face the Mashco Piro. For a long time, Tomas—who lives in the tiny community of Nueva Oceania—was practically a local to these nomadic people, who shun contact with foreigners.

A new study from a advocacy organization states remain no fewer than 196 termed “remote communities” remaining in the world. This tribe is thought to be the biggest. The report states a significant portion of these groups may be wiped out within ten years unless authorities don't do further measures to safeguard them.

It argues the greatest threats stem from timber harvesting, mining or exploration for oil. Remote communities are exceptionally susceptible to ordinary sickness—therefore, the study says a danger is posed by interaction with proselytizers and online personalities looking for clicks.

In recent times, the Mashco Piro have been coming to Nueva Oceania more and more, based on accounts from residents.

Nueva Oceania is a fishermen's community of a handful of families, located elevated on the edges of the local river deep within the Peruvian jungle, 10 hours from the nearest settlement by boat.

This region is not classified as a safeguarded area for remote communities, and timber firms operate here.

According to Tomas that, on occasion, the racket of industrial tools can be heard day and night, and the tribe members are witnessing their jungle disrupted and destroyed.

In Nueva Oceania, inhabitants report they are conflicted. They dread the tribal weapons but they also possess deep respect for their “kin” who live in the woodland and desire to safeguard them.

“Let them live in their own way, we are unable to alter their way of life. That's why we preserve our space,” says Tomas.

Inhabitants in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the damage to the tribe's survival, the risk of violence and the possibility that loggers might subject the tribe to sicknesses they have no immunity to.

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

“We heard cries, sounds from others, numerous of them. As if it was a large gathering shouting,” she shared with us.

It was the first time she had encountered the group and she ran. Subsequently, her thoughts was still throbbing from terror.

“Because there are deforestation crews and operations cutting down the jungle they are escaping, perhaps because of dread and they end up in proximity to us,” she said. “We don't know how they might react with us. This is what terrifies me.”

In 2022, a pair of timber workers were assaulted by the tribe while angling. One was struck by an projectile to the gut. He recovered, but the other person was discovered dead days later with nine arrow wounds in his body.

Authorities in Peru has a policy of avoiding interaction with secluded communities, making it illegal to initiate encounters with them.

The strategy began in the neighboring country after decades of advocacy by community representatives, who noted that first exposure with isolated people lead to whole populations being decimated by disease, poverty and malnutrition.

Back in the eighties, when the Nahau tribe in the country first encountered with the world outside, a significant portion of their population died within a short period. A decade later, the Muruhanua people experienced the same fate.

“Remote tribes are highly vulnerable—in terms of health, any exposure might spread diseases, and including the basic infections may eliminate them,” states an advocate from a tribal support group. “Culturally too, any interaction or disruption could be highly damaging to their existence and well-being as a society.”

For local residents of {