The department is almost entirely low-lying Amazon rainforest. The climate is warm and damp, with average temperatures around . The rainy season is from December to March, when torrential rainfall causes rivers to swell and often overflow their banks. Annual precipitation can be as much as. The north-western boundary with the Cusco Region is known as the Isthmus of Fitzcarrald, a series of small and low mountains that separate the Madre de Dios River and the Urubamba/Ucayali River basins. Notable rivers in the Madre de Dios River watershed are the Inambari, Tambopata, Manu, Tahuamanu, Las Piedras, Heath, Acre and Los Amigos. 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. A number of explorers have searched for the lost city of Paititi in the jungle within the region. A new road that opened in early 2011 through the area will connect Brazil and Peru for trade, and change the isolation of this area. The only important highway is between the Peruvian cities of Puerto Maldonado and Cusco, away in the Cuzco Department. It is part of the newly built Interoceanic Road between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, passing by the border town Iñapari on the Acre river. Flights between Cusco and Puerto Maldonado remain the most common and quicker method of transport between the two. From Puerto Maldonado a road about long leads to the mining town Laberinto. A second road is between the village of Pillcopata and Itahuania. It is a roughly -long single-track road that is hard to travel in the rainy season. It also has a dirt road to the native community of Infierno, where the Ese'ejas live. Their chief is Agustín Shapaja, who led the famous expedition to the Candamo. He was featured in the TV documentaryEl Candamo, la Ultima Tierra sin Hombres.
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:
Cotton
Coffee
Sugarcane
Cacao beans
Brazil nuts
Palm oil
Gold mining is the only other large industry of the region, confined mainly to alluvium adjacent to the Inambari and Madre de Dios rivers. Significant deforestation has resulted due to this activity. In addition, techniques for gold mining have been described as resulting in both a major environmental and public health problem. Most gold miners use liquid mercury to extract gold particles from the alluvium. They often handle the toxic liquid mercury with their bare hands. To purify the gold particles, the mercury is burned off. After being vaporized, mercury particles contaminate the surrounding ecosystems. Mercury bioaccumulates throughout the food chain to become concentrated in top predators, such as large river fish and carnivorous birds. The local people may be harmed by direct contact with the element, as well as by ingesting dangerous levels of mercury when they eat the fish. Mercury results in a variety of neurological and congenital health problems. Ecotourism is a major emerging industry in Madre de Dios. A number of lodges in Manu and Tambopata are becoming part of what is described as the Vilcabamba-Amboró Corridor. Some of these EcoLodges offer adventure activities as well, such as . New legislation encourages private investors to create concessions for conservation or ecotourism. This is to extend the reaches of the public protected areas. This integration includes native communities, which are increasingly involved in ecotourism. The importance of including the local population relies on the long-term incentives for leaving standing forest. The local population is integrated into conservation initiatives as well as economic cycles. Other serious environmental problems in the region include loss of forest cover for agriculture, illegal selective logging, and illegal poaching of endangered species.. The national bird of Peru, the Andean cock-of-the-rock, is found in Madre de Dios. It suffers from poaching and habitat disturbance. Characteristic mammal species include the capybara, jaguar and giant river otter.
Political division
The region is divided into three provinces, which are composed of 11 districts. The provinces, with their capitals in parentheses, are:
The region is the subject of a memoir by conservationist and explorer Paul Rosolie, Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon
The region is the primary setting for the memoir Ruthless River: Love and Survival by Raft on the Amazon's Relentless Madre de Dios by Holly Fitzgerald about an ill-fated rafting journey in 1973.
