‘At the edge of survival’

Survival International launches a major report on the world’s uncontacted Indigenous peoples

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Published: October 27, 2025
This Article was written by: Katie Hill - My Green Pod
equality, human rights, indigenous

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Main image: Uncontacted people in Brazil seen from the air during a Brazilian government expedition in 2010. G.Miranda/FUNAI/Survival

Today (27 October), Survival International will launch the first-ever fully comprehensive report on uncontacted peoples worldwide.

Actor Richard Gere will speak at the launch event, alongside Indigenous leaders from the Amazon and Survival International’s director, Caroline Pearce.

‘Continuing colonisation

In the report, Uncontacted Indigenous Peoples: at the edge of survival, Survival reveals — after years of rigorous research — that there are at least 196 uncontacted Indigenous groups, living in 10 countries in South America, Asia and the Pacific.

The number is the most accurate and up-to-date calculation ever of uncontacted peoples and groups worldwide.

Survival’s research further concludes that half of the groups could be wiped out within 10 years if governments and companies do not act.

Uncontacted peoples reject contact as a deliberate choice in the face of colonising attacks, as is their right under international law. When their rights are respected, they survive and thrive.

‘There is a catastrophe looming – and a clear way to evade it. We can respect uncontacted people’s clearly expressed choice to be left alone. Or we can continue tearing up their forests for mining, logging and ranching, and allowing missionaries or influencers to invade their homes – and risk killing up to half of all uncontacted groups in the next 10 years.

‘The solution is obvious: industries and governments must act now to halt this continuing colonisation, so that uncontacted peoples can live freely as they choose.’

CAROLINE PEARCE
Survival’s director

New threats to uncontacted peoples

Besides long-standing threats to uncontacted people’s lives and territories, such as logging, mining and ranching, there are several new and emerging threats to their existence, such as social media influencers who seek to make ‘first contact’ for content they can monetise.

Missionaries, bankrolled by multi-million-dollar evangelical organisations, are also an emerging threat; they use the latest technology to find and track uncontacted tribes to convert them to Christianity.

Another risk is posed by violent criminal gangs who increasingly grow and traffic drugs or run illegal mining operations deep in the Amazon.

The report is packed with personal stories, case studies and voices from the forests that reveal Indigenous accounts of first contact, and the trauma that results.

‘The authorities must respect our right to live in our place, on our land’, said Davi Kopenawa Yanomami. ‘Without the Indigenous peoples and without the forest, there is no life. It is very important for uncontacted Indigenous peoples to be able to live on their land. The whole world must know that they are there in their forest. The authorities must respect their right to live there.’