New and striking footage depicts members of one of the world’s most isolated and rarely encountered tribes emerging from the rainforest in Peru near contentious logging sites.
Images released by Survival International show over 50 Mashco Piro individuals near the Yine village of Monte Salvado, situated close to Peru’s border with Brazil, in recent days. In a separate incident, another group of 17 appeared near the neighboring village of Puerto Nuevo.
The Yine, who are contacted but related people, speak a language linked to the Mashco Piro and have previously reported the Mashco Piro’s objections to loggers encroaching on their land.
Uncontacted tribes are indigenous groups that deliberately avoid contact with outsiders. The Mashco Piro are believed to be the largest uncontacted tribe globally, numbering more than 750 individuals, and residing deep within the rainforests of southeastern Peru.
Human rights organizations argue that the new images underscore the urgent need to revoke all logging licenses in the area and formally recognize the territory as belonging to the Mashco Piro people.
“These remarkable images demonstrate that significant numbers of uncontacted Mashco Piro are living just a short distance from where logging operations are set to begin,” stated Caroline Pearce, director of Survival International. “One logging company, Canales Tahuamanu, is already operating within Mashco Piro territory despite clear opposition from the Mashco Piro themselves.”
“This situation could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe — it is absolutely crucial that the loggers are expelled and the Mashco Piro’s territory is finally protected,” she added. “The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) must immediately withdraw its certification of Canales Tahuamanu — failure to do so will undermine the entire certification system.”
Several logging companies hold timber concessions within the territory, with the closest being just a few miles from where the Mashco Piro were filmed. Canales Tahuamanu SAC, one such company, has constructed over 200km of roads for logging trucks to extract timber.
Despite the Peruvian government acknowledging eight years ago that logging was occurring within Mashco Piro territory, Canales Tahuamanu SAC retains FSC certification for its purportedly sustainable and ethical practices.
“This incontrovertible evidence shows that numerous Mashco Piro reside in this area, which the government not only failed to protect but actually sold off to logging companies,” remarked Alfredo Vargas Pio, president of the local Indigenous organization FENAMAD.
“The presence of logging workers could introduce new diseases that could devastate the Mashco Piro, and there is also a risk of violence from both sides. It is imperative that the territorial rights of the Mashco Piro be legally recognized and protected.”
Survival International is urging the FSC to revoke Canales Tahuamanu’s certification immediately. The charity contends that continued land loss due to logging activities is pushing the Mashco Piro further out of their forested homeland.
