Experts issue dire warning about uncontacted tribes around the world after new threat

Experts have issued warnings about indigenous tribes around the world, after reports that a new threat could be detrimental to their survival.

According to a paper titled 'Uncontacted Indigenous Peoples: at the edge of survival', there are 196 uncontacted indigenous groups around the world, and 95 per cent of them are located in the Amazon rainforest. Meanwhile, the rest are located throughout Asia and the Pacific.

The report explains: "Their homes are in forests, where they live self-sufficiently by hunting, fishing and gathering. The biggest concentration in the world is in the Yavari-Tapiche area on both sides of the border between Brazil and Peru – it is home to 26 such groups.

"The Sentinelese live alone on North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean. Their lands do not just provide their shelter and livelihoods – they are also the core of their identity, culture and resistance. These territories are their homes."

There are around 195 uncontacted groups (ALAN CHAVES/AFP via Getty Images)

The report goes on to reveal that 'greed, racism and colonialism' are putting uncontacted groups at risk, as well as those who want to 'put them on YouTube'.

"They are forced into contact – or off their land – by those using racist stereotypes like 'primitive' or 'stone age' to justify invading their homes supposedly in the name of salvation or development," the report continues.

"Uncontacted peoples are threatened with deadly contact and land theft by those seeking to assimilate them, evangelize them, put them on YouTube – or, most often, exploit their land for profit. Forcing contact on uncontacted Indigenous peoples places others’ desires and profit above their rights and their survival."

The report goes on to say that influencers and 'adventure tourists' often 'break local laws in their attempts to reach uncontacted peoples', citing an incident in 2025 when a man was arrested for attempting to contact the Sentinelese.

In April, Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov was detained in India after attempting to visit North Sentinel Island, though it was additionally reported that he'd attempted two other times before.

Meanwhile, photographing and filming the Andaman tribes is outlawed in the region.

A few people have attempted to visit the Sentinelese on North Sentinel Island (Survival International)

Despite the law being on the side of the indigenous people, the report explains how national and international laws are still being broken.

It also claims that a third of groups in the Amazon are being threatened by drug-trafficking gangs who want to destroy the forests to support their criminal operations.

Meanwhile, illegal logging and mining is also adding to the growing threats as well, with the report calling upon governments to take action to enforce national and international laws.

Without change, they believe up to half of uncontacted groups will be eradicated in the next decade.

They also urge companies to commit to not sourcing materials from the territories of uncontacted people, and to 'take action to clean up supply chains'.