Uncontacted Tribe Shown "Dangerously Close" To Logging Areas In New Footage

New images show members of an uncontacted tribe in the Peruvian Amazon living in an area “dangerously close” to parts of the forest being eyed up by logging companies.

Survival International, who released the footage, and local Indigenous organizations say the images starkly highlight the need to revoke all the logging licenses in the region and recognize that the territory belongs to the uncontacted peoples.

The images show the Mashco Piro people , a community of nomadic hunter-gatherers thought to be one of the largest uncontacted tribes in the world with an estimated 750 members.

In the late 19th century, the tribe endured huge suffering at the hands of colonial rubber barons in the western Amazon. Thousands were enslaved, while countless others were hunted down, beaten, chained, robbed, raped, and murdered.

Against the odds, they managed to survive with their traditional culture intact. However, the tribe continues to face the ever-growing threat of logging and deforestation . Several logging companies hold timber concessions inside the territory that belongs to the Mashco Piro people, just a few miles from where the new footage was filmed.

“These incredible images show that very large numbers of uncontacted Mashco Piro people are living just a few miles from where loggers are poised to start operations. Indeed one logging company, Canales Tahuamanu, is already at work inside Mashco Piro territory, which the Mashco Piro have made clear they oppose,” Caroline Pearce, Survival International Director, said in a statement .

“This is a humanitarian disaster in the making – it’s absolutely vital that the loggers are thrown out, and the Mashco Piro’s territory is properly protected at last,” she noted.

In one piece of footage, a group of 17 Mashco Piro people appeared near the village of Puerto Nuevo in southeastern Peru. In another, over 50 are seen near the neighboring village of Monte Salvado. This settlement is inhabited by the Yine, an Indigenous people in Peru who maintain contact with the wider world but speak a language related to Mashco Piro. The Yine has reportedly said that the Mashco Piro have previously expressed anger at the presence of loggers on their land.

Off the back of this new footage, Survival International is calling on the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) – an independent non-profit that intends to promote the ethical and responsible management of the world's forests – to retract their certification given to the companies operating in the area.

“The FSC must cancel its certification of Canales Tahuamanu immediately – failure to do so will make a mockery of the entire certification system,” added Pearce.

“This is irrefutable evidence that many Mashco Piro live in this area, which the government has not only failed to protect, but actually sold off to logging companies. The logging workers could bring in new diseases which would wipe out the Mashco Piro, and there’s also a risk of violence on either side, so it’s very important that the territorial rights of the Mashco Piro are recognized and protected in law,” added Alfredo Vargas Pio, President of local Indigenous organization FENAMAD.