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Tomas Anez Dos Santos toiled in a tiny clearing deep in the Peruvian jungle when he detected sounds approaching through the lush forest.

He realized he was encircled, and halted.

“A single individual stood, directing with an projectile,” he remembers. “Unexpectedly he noticed that I was present and I started to run.”

He had come confronting the Mashco Piro. For decades, Tomas—who lives in the tiny settlement of Nueva Oceania—served as almost a neighbor to these nomadic individuals, who shun engagement with foreigners.

A new study issued by a rights organisation claims there are at least 196 described as “remote communities” in existence worldwide. The Mashco Piro is believed to be the most numerous. The report says a significant portion of these groups might be decimated in the next decade if governments don't do more measures to safeguard them.

The report asserts the most significant risks are from deforestation, mining or drilling for oil. Uncontacted groups are extremely at risk to basic disease—as such, it states a risk is posed by interaction with evangelical missionaries and digital content creators in pursuit of clicks.

Lately, members of the tribe have been appearing to Nueva Oceania increasingly, according to residents.

The village is a fishing community of several households, sitting atop on the shores of the local river in the center of the Peruvian jungle, a ten-hour journey from the closest village by canoe.

The territory is not classified as a preserved area for remote communities, and timber firms function here.

Tomas reports that, sometimes, the racket of logging machinery can be detected day and night, and the Mashco Piro people are witnessing their forest disrupted and destroyed.

Among the locals, inhabitants report they are torn. They are afraid of the projectiles but they also have profound respect for their “brothers” residing in the woodland and want to defend them.

“Permit them to live according to their traditions, we are unable to change their way of life. For this reason we maintain our distance,” explains Tomas.

Residents in Nueva Oceania are anxious about the harm to the Mascho Piro's livelihood, the threat of aggression and the likelihood that deforestation crews might expose the tribe to illnesses they have no defense to.

At the time in the village, the Mashco Piro made their presence felt again. Letitia, a woman with a two-year-old girl, was in the forest gathering food when she detected them.

“We detected calls, shouts from people, a large number of them. As if there was a crowd calling out,” she informed us.

This marked the first time she had come across the Mashco Piro and she ran. An hour later, her thoughts was still throbbing from terror.

“Since operate loggers and firms cutting down the jungle they're running away, maybe due to terror and they come in proximity to us,” she said. “It is unclear what their response may be towards us. This is what terrifies me.”

Two years ago, two individuals were confronted by the group while catching fish. One was wounded by an arrow to the abdomen. He recovered, but the other person was found deceased subsequently with nine injuries in his physique.

Authorities in Peru follows a strategy of non-contact with remote tribes, establishing it as illegal to initiate contact with them.

This approach originated in the neighboring country after decades of campaigning by tribal advocacy organizations, who saw that initial contact with isolated people could lead to whole populations being decimated by illness, destitution and hunger.

In the 1980s, when the Nahau tribe in Peru first encountered with the outside world, 50% of their people perished within a matter of years. A decade later, the Muruhanua community faced the similar destiny.

“Remote tribes are very vulnerable—in terms of health, any exposure could spread sicknesses, and including the simplest ones may wipe them out,” states an advocate from a local advocacy organization. “From a societal perspective, any interaction or intrusion could be extremely detrimental to their life and survival as a community.”

For local residents of {