The world’s uncontacted peoples under threat

Half of the world’s remaining uncontacted indigenous groups face extinction within a decade due to growing contact with missionaries, miners, drug traffickers and social media influencers, a new report released by Survival International ahead of Cop30 in Brazil has warned.

The indigenous rights organisation, which has spent years compiling a comprehensive record of some of the world’s most isolated people, has identified 196 “uncontacted” communities around the world who are living “at the edge of survival”.

“These are what I would call silent genocides – there are no TV crews, no journalists. But they are happening, and they’re happening now,” said Fiona Watson, Survival’s research and advocacy director.

Who and where are they?

Uncontacted peoples are those who “reject contact with