Context: Recently, a British journalist went missing in a remote corner of the Amazon rainforest.

About Vale do Javari

• It is the western section of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest.
• It is named after the Javari River, which forms the country’s border with Peru.
• The region is home to the greatest concentration of isolated tribal groups in the Amazon and the world.
• The area is home to 14 indigenous tribes with nearly 6,000 inhabitants, who are known to reject contact with the outside world.
• The tribes have been granted exclusive territorial rights in Brazil’s 1988 constitution and then in 2001 under the demarcation of indigenous territory.
• Major Tribes include: Warikama Djapar and Matus

Threats faced by the region

• There are repeated attempts from the outside world to forcibly enter their resource-rich territory.
• The area has witnessed evangelical missionaries entering indigenous villages without permission from the tribal leaders or the concerned authorities.
• Outside contact also puts these tribes at a grave health risk from foreign diseases.
• The region has been witnessing increasing illegal gold prospecting and poaching.
• Vale Do Javari also forms part of an international cocaine trafficking route, with gold being exchanged for drugs and arms, consequently making it a hotspot for violent crimes.