Isolated Tribes and Their Fear of Extinction

​Un-contacted people, also referred to as isolated people or lost tribes are communities that live or have lived in isolation, either by choice (people who live in voluntary isolation) or by circumstances, without significant contact with the global civilization (National Geographic News 2003). Indigenous activists have called for such groups to be left alone, stating that contact will interfere with their right to self-determination (Survival International 2011). 

According to the Environment Correspondent, BBC News isolated tribes may lack the immunity to common diseases, which can kill a large percentage of the people after contact. Disease and death have plagued indigenous communities in South America since they first came into contact with the outside world, primarily Europeans in the 1500’s. The indigenous population had no immune protection against illness such as the flu and measles and as result thousands died (National Geographic News 2003). 

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The Amazon rainforest is home to many isolated tribes (indigenous people) since the 1500’s (Survival International 2011). According to the Brazilian Government’s Indian affairs department “FUNAI”, there at least seventy- seven (77) isolated tribes in the rainforest and why they maintain seclusion is pivoted upon the disastrous outcomes of the past (2011).  These Amazonian people are very unique and they rely on the method of hunt and gather for survival for centuries but the developing world poses a threat to their survival. Logging, mining and cattle ranching are the immediate threat to these people of the Amazon and without the help of FUNAI their extinction is inevitable (Survival International 2011).  

Isolated tribes are distributed across the Amazon with little or no contact and despite displacements, epidemics and hostile interactions with outsiders, they manage to survive. How can we ensure the survival of these tribes under such external threats?

January 14, 2019

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