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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) \u2014 From the depths of Brazil\u2019s Amazon<\/a> to Indonesia\u2019s rainforests, some of the world\u2019s most isolated peoples are being squeezed by roads, miners and drug traffickers \u2014 a crisis unfolding far from public view or effective state protection.<\/p>\n A new report by Survival International, a London-based Indigenous rights organization, attempts one of the broadest tallies yet, identifying at least 196 uncontacted Indigenous groups<\/a> in 10 countries, primarily in the South American nations sharing the Amazon rainforest. Released Sunday, the report<\/a> estimates that nearly 65% face threats from logging, about 40% from mining and around 20% from agribusiness.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are what I would call silent genocides \u2014 there are no TV crews, no journalists. But they are happening, and they\u2019re happening now,\u201d said Fiona Watson, Survival’s research and advocacy director, who has worked on Indigenous rights for more than three decades.<\/p>\n The issue often receives little priority from governments, which critics say see uncontacted peoples as politically marginal because they don’t vote and their territories are often coveted for logging, mining and oil extraction. Public debate is also shaped by stereotypes \u2014 some romanticize them as \u201clost tribes,\u201d while others view them as barriers to development.<\/p>\n Survival\u2019s research concludes that half of these groups \u201ccould be wiped out within 10 years if governments and companies do not act.\u201d<\/p>\n Who the uncontacted peoples are<\/p>\n Uncontacted peoples are not \u201clost tribes\u201d frozen in time, Watson said. They are contemporary societies that deliberately avoid outsiders after generations of violence, slavery and disease.<\/p>\n \u201cThey don\u2019t need anything from us,\u201d Watson said. \u201cThey\u2019re happy in the forest. They have incredible knowledge and they help keep these very valuable forests standing \u2014 essential to all humanity in the fight against climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n Survival\u2019s research shows that more than 95% of the world\u2019s uncontacted peoples live in the Amazon, with smaller populations in South and Southeast Asia and the Pacific. These communities live by hunting, fishing and small-scale cultivation, maintaining languages and traditions that predate modern nation-states.<\/p>\n Why contact can be deadly<\/p>\n Groups living in voluntary isolation have \u201cminimal to no contact with those outside of their own group,\u201d said Dr. Subhra Bhattacharjee, director general of the Forest Stewardship Council and an Indigenous rights expert based in Bonn, Germany. \u201cA simple cold that you and I recover from in a week \u2026 they could die of that cold.\u201d<\/p>\n Beyond disease, contact can destroy livelihoods and belief systems. International law requires free, prior and informed consent \u2014 known as FPIC \u2014 before any activity on Indigenous lands.<\/p>\n \u201cBut when you have groups living in voluntary isolation, who you cannot get close to without risking their lives, you cannot get FPIC,\u201d Bhattacharjee said. \u201cNo FPIC means no consent.\u201d<\/p>\n Her organization follows a strict policy: \u201cNo contact, no-go zones,\u201d she said, arguing that if consent cannot be obtained safely, contact should not occur at all.<\/p>\n The Associated Press reported last year on loggers killed by bow and arrow<\/a> after entering Mashco Piro territory in Peru\u2019s Amazon, with Indigenous leaders warning that such clashes are inevitable when frontier zones go unpoliced.<\/p>\n How the threats have evolved<\/p>\n Watson, who has worked across the Amazon for 35 years, said early threats stemmed from colonization and state-backed infrastructure. During Brazil\u2019s military dictatorship between 1964 and 1985<\/a>, highways were bulldozed through the rainforest \u201cwithout due regard\u201d for the people living there.<\/p>\n \u201cThe roads acted as a magnet for settlers,\u201d she said, describing how loggers and cattle ranchers followed, bringing gunmen and disease that wiped out entire communities.<\/p>\n A railway line now planned in Brazil could potentially affect three uncontacted peoples, she said, but the rise of organized crime poses an even greater risk.<\/p>\n Across Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, drug traffickers and illegal gold miners<\/a> have moved deep into Indigenous territories. \u201cAny chance encounter runs the risk of transmitting the flu, which can easily wipe out an uncontacted people within a year of contact,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd bows and arrows are no match for guns.\u201d<\/p>\n Evangelical missionary incursions have also caused outbreaks. Watson recalled how, under former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro<\/a>, an evangelical pastor was placed in charge of the government\u2019s unit for uncontacted peoples and gained access to their coordinates. \u201cTheir mission was to force contact \u2014 to \u2018save souls,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThat is incredibly dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n Ways to protect uncontacted peoples<\/p>\n Protecting uncontacted peoples, experts say, will require both stronger laws and a shift in how the world views them \u2014 not as relics of the past, but as citizens of the planet whose survival affects everyone\u2019s future.<\/p>\n Advocates have several recommendations.<\/p>\n First, governments must formally recognize and enforce Indigenous territories, making them off-limits to extractive industries.<\/p>\n Mapping is crucial, Bhattacharjee said, because identifying the approximate territories of uncontacted peoples allows governments to protect those areas from loggers or miners. But, she added, it must be done with extreme caution and from a distance to avoid contact that could endanger the groups\u2019 health or autonomy.<\/p>\n Second, corporations and consumers must help stop the flow of money driving destruction. Survival\u2019s report calls for companies to trace their supply chains to ensure that commodities such as gold, timber and soy are not sourced from Indigenous lands.<\/p>\n \u201cPublic opinion and pressure are essential,\u201d Watson said. \u201cIt\u2019s largely through citizens and the media that so much has already been achieved to recognize uncontacted peoples and their rights.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, advocates say the world must recognize why their protection matters. Beyond human rights, these communities play an outsized role in stabilizing the global climate.<\/p>\n \u201cWith the world under pressure from climate change, we will sink or swim together,\u201d Bhattacharjee said.<\/p>\n Governments\u2019 uneven response<\/p>\n International treaties such as the International Labor Organization\u2019s Convention 169 and the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples affirm the right to self-determination and to remain uncontacted if they choose. But enforcement varies widely.<\/p>\n In Peru, Congress recently rejected a proposal to create the Yavari-Mirim Indigenous Reserve<\/a>, a move Indigenous federations said leaves isolated groups exposed to loggers and traffickers.<\/p>\n In Brazil, President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva<\/a> has sought to rebuild protections weakened under Bolsonaro, boosting budgets and patrols.<\/p>\n And in Ecuador, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled this year that the government failed to protect the Tagaeri and Taromenane peoples who live in voluntary isolation in Yasuni National Park.<\/p>\n Watson warned that political forces tied to agribusiness and evangelical blocs are now working to roll back earlier gains.<\/p>\n \u201cAchievements of the last 20 or 30 years are in danger of being dismantled,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n What the new report calls for<\/p>\n Survival International\u2019s report urges a global no-contact policy: legal recognition of uncontacted territories, suspension of mining, oil and agribusiness projects in or near those lands and prosecution of crimes against Indigenous groups.<\/p>\n Watson said logging remains the biggest single threat, but mining is close behind. She pointed to the uncontacted Hongana Manyawa on Indonesia\u2019s Halmahera Island, where nickel for electric-vehicle batteries is being mined.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople think electric cars are a green alternative,\u201d she said, \u201cbut mining companies are operating on the land of uncontacted peoples and posing enormous threats.\u201d<\/p>\n In South America, illegal gold miners in the Yanomami territory<\/a> of Brazil and Venezuela continue to use mercury to extract gold \u2014 contamination that has poisoned rivers and fish.<\/p>\n \u201cThe impact is devastating \u2014 socially and physically,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n The Associated Press\u2019 climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP\u2019s standards<\/a> for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n