2023 Guide to Uncontacted Tribes: Advocating for Indigenous land Rights

Key Takeaways

Uncontacted tribes worldwide number over 100 groups concentrated in the Amazon, New Guinea, Andaman Islands and African rainforests

Their isolation is an active choice to preserve unique cultures, languages and autonomy over ancestral lands

Recent evidence continually finds new uncontacted societies, with likely many more undocumented groups

Threats include massive deforestation, extractive industries, road building, disease, climate impacts and loss of legal protections

Remote sensing, linguistics and genetics research reveal greater population densities and deeper ancestry histories than recognized

Uncontacted tribes express sophisticated village-scale societies with distinct linguistic identities

Advocacy and legal recognition of land rights are urgently needed as deforestation outpaces protections across Brazil, Indonesia and other critical regions