Madre de Dios

Madre de Dios is a department in southeastern Peru that is entirely within the Amazon basin. With a territory almost the size of Portugal it is the third largest department in Peru. Internally it borders with Cuzco, Puno and Ucayali, whereas internationally it borders Brazil and Bolivia. 

Separated politically from the Andean department of Puno, the department Madre de Dios was created in 1912. It is one of the least densely populated areas in the Amazon. With a population of around 100,000 people, there are less than 2 inhabitants per square kilometer. Think about this: if you put every single person in Madre de Dios in a large sports stadium, they would fit! Half of the population is concentrated in Puerto Maldonado, the capital, which was found in 1902. 

Before 1960, when a dirt road from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado was opened, all southeastern Peru was practically virgin forest. One of the reasons why, more than 40 years later, most of the department is still forested is that more than half of its territory is now under protection. Imagine a territory the size of Switzerland under protection! 

The Manu National Park, the Alto Purus National Park and the Bahuaja-Sonene National Park are some of the largest protected areas on the planet, harboring some of the most biodiverse habitats. They are part of the huge 30 million hectare Vilcabamba-Amboró Corridor, ranging from central Peru to central Bolivia. The importance of corridors of this size are that they allow species with big territories such as jaguars (Panthera Onca), white-lipped peccaries (Tayassu pecari), and the larger macaw species, among others, to move between the protected areas and keep the genetic pool diverse. 

Madre de Dios is also home to a number of ethnic groups, some of which live in remote areas and avoid the contact with people outside their groups. Some of these communities periodically even cross the border to Brazil. Communities of Machiguengas, Harakmbut, Amahuaca, Mashco-Piro, Shipibo-Conibo and Ese´Eja, live in Madre de Dios, totaling an estimated population of almost 3,000.

The single biggest challenge for conservation in Madre de Dios is the current pavement of the Interoceanic Highway. This highway connects the highly productive south of Brazil with the ports of the Pacific Ocean in the south of Peru. For Brazil it is the door to the Asian markets for soy bean, meat and other exports. The most significant consequence will be an increase of internal migration. This highway will connect some of the best preserved rainforests in Amazonia, with some of the poorest regions of Peru. For the Andean population the rainforest has historically been a land of opportunities, in the form of slash and burn agriculture and informal gold mining. 

Nevertheless, an industry is awakening in Madre de Dios: ecotourism. A number of lodges in Manu and Tambopata are becoming part of this huge Vilcabamba-Amboró Corridor. A new legislation that encourages private investors to create concessions for conservation or ecotourism, are extending the reaches of the public protected areas. This integration includes also native communities that are increasingly involved in ecotourism. The importance of including the local population relies on the long term incentives it creates for leaving standing forest. Sustainability can only be achieved, if the local population is integrated in conservation initiatives as well as economic cycles. 

Although ecotourism will continue to gain further importance because of the amount of people it employs, carbon sequestration could be a big part of the future of Madre de Dios. If carbon sequestrated by its forests can be converted to certificates, the incentives for keeping the forest standing are huge. A collateral of this would be the protection of biodiversity found in the forests of Madre de Dios.