Madre de Dios is a region in southeastern Peru, bordering Brazil, Bolivia and the Peruvian Regions of Puno, Cusco and Ucayali. Its capital is the city of Puerto Maldonado. The name of the region is a very common Spanish-language designation for the Virgin Mary, literally meaning Mother of God.

Geography

The region is almost entirely low-lying Amazonian rainforest. The climate is warm and damp, with average temperatures around 26º C (max. 34º C, min 21º C). The rainy season is from December to March, when torrential rainfall causes rivers to swell and often burst their banks. Annual precipitation can be as much as 3 metres.

The south-western boundary with the Cusco Region is known as the Isthmus of Fitzcarrald, a series of small mountains that separate the Madre de Dios River and the Urubamba River.

The most important rivers are those in the Madre de Dios River watershed:

• Inambari River .
• Tambopata River .
• Manu River.
• Tahuanamú River .
• de las Piedras River .
• Heath River .
• Acre River .

Due to the vast size of the area and its low population density, rivers provide the best way of getting from one town to another. Human activity is invariably confined to riverbanks.

The only road of note is between Puerto Maldonado and the city of Cuzco (530 km away). However, it is in very poor condition and flights between Cuzco and Puerto Maldonado remain the most common and reliable method of transport between the two. From Puerto Maldonado there is a road to the mining town of Laberinto ("Labyrinth") (about 50 km long). There is also a road between Cuzco and the town of Atalaya . It is roughly 300 km long, and impassable in the rainy season.

Economy, Natural Resources and Environment

Madre de Dios depends heavily on natural products and raw materials for its economy. There is virtually no manufacturing industry. The main agricultural products are:

1. Cotton
2. Coffee
3. Sugarcane
4. Cacao beans
5. Brazil nuts
6. Palm oil

Gold mining is the only other large industry of the region, confined mainly to the beaches of the Inambari and Madre de Dios Rivers. This is a major environmental problem in the region, as mercury is used to wash the gold with. Every year large amounts are washed into the rivers and via biological magnification it poisons many of the species that depend on the rivers. The government does little to promote awareness of this issue among the gold miners.

Other serious environmental problems in the region include loss of forest cover for agriculture, illegal selective logging (particularly for mahogany) and illegal poaching of endangered species (particularly the Giant River Otter , Amazonian turtles, caimans, and monkeys and macaws as pets).

The national bird of Peru, the near-extinct Cock-of-the-rocks , is also found in Madre de Dios and suffers from poaching and habitat disturbance.

Political division

The region is divided into three provinces (provincias, singular: provincia), which are composed of 10 districts (distritos, singular: distrito). The provinces, with their capitals in parenthesis, are:

• Manu (Manu )
• Tahuamanu (Iñapari )
• Tambopata (Puerto Maldonado)

External Links

• Madre de Dios region official website
• Peru Info: Madre de Dios region