Concerns have been raised about the welfare of an isolated tribe in the Peruvian Amazon after they made an unprecedented move.
Deep inside the Amazon rainforest live the Indigenous Mashco Piro people, a tribe of hunter-gathers who actively shun contact with outsiders.
According to Survival International, the tribe – whose ancestral lands are the rainforests of south-east Peru – is thought to be the largest uncontacted group on Earth, numbering around 750 people.
The decision to remain isolated isn’t only about protecting their culture, but also their health.
Due to prolonged isolation from the outside world, the Mashco Piro people do not have immunity to common diseases found in the rest of the world, meaning that usually harmless illnesses such as the cold could be fatal for them.
However the group’s way of life could be under threat.
According to a new report, members of the Mashco Piro have been seen entering a nearby village amid growing pressure from loggers on their lands.
The sighting was confirmed by Enrique Añez, the president of a nearby Indigenous group known as the Yine community, who said that Mashco Piro members had been sighted around their village of Nueva Oceania. The village sits at key access point to the Mashco Piro lands.
“It is very worrying; they are in danger,” Añez said of the sightings.
He went on to explain that heavy machinery close to Nueva Oceania had been responsible for cutting paths into Mashco Piro territory.
Why is the logging industry a threat to Indigenous communities in the Amazon?
As the largest rainforest on the planet, the Amazon plays a crucial role in regulating the planet’s climate, storing 150-200 billion tonnes of carbon and releasing water into the atmosphere everyday.
The rainforest is also home to some of the world’s most isolated communities.
However all of this is under threat due to the growth in logging in the region, an industry which is particularly lucrative.
Añez said: “We can hear the engines. The isolated people are also hearing them.”
Last year Survival International released images of Mashco Piro people close to logging zones.
Contact between the tribe and loggers has traditionally been violent. Last year two loggers who entered Mashco Piro territory were killed in a bow and arrow attack, prompting increased calls for the tribe’s territory to be officially established (via The Guardian).
Añez said: “Something bad could happen again.”
A year on from the clash and logging continues in the area.
“Exactly one year after the encounters and the deaths, nothing has changed in terms of land protection and the Yine are now reporting to have seen both the Mashco Piro and the loggers exactly in the same space almost at the same time,” Teresa Mayo, a researcher at Survival International, explained in a statement.
“The clash could be imminent.”
She continued: “They still have the license of the government, and that is how they back their activities even if they know they are putting both Mashco Piro and their workers’ lives at risk.”
When approached for comment on the report, Peru’s culture ministry confirmed to AP that it was currently reviewing the report from Survival International.
