No contact, no conflict: Protecting South America’s invisible peoples
In Brazil and across the Amazon Basin, a growing body of evidence confirms what many Indigenous communities have long known: hundreds of voluntarily isolated Indigenous groups continue to live deep in the forest, avoiding contact with the outside world. But for decades, their existence was denied or ignored by states, leaving them legally invisible and their lands open to extraction, deforestation, and exploitation.
That is slowly changing. A new 302-page report—launched in April 2025 at the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues—offers a scientific framework for recognizing these groups without violating their autonomy.
Antenor Vaz, a veteran expert on isolated and initially contacted peoples (PIACI) who recently spoke with Aimee Gabay, co-authored the report with input from national Indigenous organizations such as AIDESEP in Peru. It catalogs 188 records of voluntarily isolated peoples in South America—yet just 60 are officially recognized by states.
Recognition matters. Without legal recognition, Indigenous peoples have no claim to territory, protections, or voice.
As Vaz puts it: “They have no rights because they do not exist for the state.”
Denial, he warns, is often politically motivated: once land is acknowledged as inhabited, it must be protected. That complicates plans for agribusiness, mining, and logging.
The report outlines both “direct” and “indirect” methodologies for evidence-gathering—from satellite imagery and field expeditions to local Indigenous knowledge. While states tend to privilege Western scientific methods, Vaz stresses that Indigenous trackers and shamans often provide the most accurate data. Their knowledge, he argues, is holistic, drawing on spiritual and ecological cues beyond the grasp of many Western institutions.
The implications go beyond Indigenous rights. Isolated peoples are entirely dependent on intact ecosystems. Their continued survival requires forests to remain undisturbed, making them natural stewards of biodiversity.
“For isolated peoples,” Vaz notes, “the forest is their pharmacy, supermarket, school, and city.”
Protecting their land helps protect the Amazon—and, by extension, global climate stability.
The report offers 11 core principles, including the foundational rule: No contact. That principle, enshrined in Brazil’s 1988 Constitution, has become a model for others.
As states weigh economic growth against Indigenous survival, Vaz says this document serves as a guide for navigating that fraught terrain—scientifically, ethically, and lawfully.