Half of the world’s remaining uncontacted Indigenous groups may disappear within a decade without concerted conservation efforts. “Uncontacted peoples’ rejection of contact is often rooted in memories of devastating past conflict and invasion, which brough[t] violence, epidemics, and death,” the team explains. Logging endangers around 65 percent of uncontacted peoples, and often precedes further environmental destruction. We can respect uncontacted peoples’ clearly expressed choice to be left alone,” added Survival International Director Caroline Pearce. Occasionally, uncontacted tribes have attacked and even killed interlopers.