The Mashco Piro, the world's largest uncontacted Indigenous group, are under increasing threat from logging, drug trafficking and the climate crisis in the Peru-Brazil borderlands, according to a new investigation. Despite years of legal protection and international agreements, cooperation between the two countries remains inadequate, endangering the tribe's survival.
In 1999, anthropologist Beatriz Huertas documented sightings and evidence of the Mashco Piro along the Las Piedras and Tahuamanu rivers. Her 2001 report recommended protecting 2m hectares for the group. Peru subsequently approved 800,000 hectares for protection, but 38 logging concessions were granted on adjacent land, covering 694,584 hectares – including areas used by the Mashco Piro.
A 2016 government commission approved expanding the Madre de Dios reserve by 240,471 hectares to incorporate land used by the nomads, but the expansion was never implemented. Logging concessions still cover more than 176,000 hectares within the proposed expansion area. Ministry of Culture data shows 81 instances of Mashco Piro presence in and around the reserve from 2016 to 2024, with 19 in the expansion area and four involving violent encounters.
Isrrail Aquise, coordinator of Fenamad's defence of isolated peoples, said violence has changed community behaviour, with only able-bodied men and boys now seen on the riverside. He added that women, old men and children no longer appear, likely due to confrontations with loggers. Lucas Manchineri, president of a local Indigenous association in Brazil, said the climate crisis is also disrupting seasonal routines, forcing the Mashco Piro closer to villages as headwater creeks dry up.
Peru maintains 19 control posts for eight Indigenous and territorial reserves, but budget cuts have left many understaffed. Romel Ponciano, a Yine man from Monte Salvado, said each post needs six staff but often has only two or none. He noted that the Mashco Piro population is increasing, with sightings of up to 200 at a time. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has found that Peru violated the rights of isolated peoples by failing to protect their territory.
