Madre de Dios, the name of a region in southeastern Peru bordering Brazil and Bolivia, is a common designation for the Virgin Mary, meaning Mother of God in Spanish.
In real life, however, the name exemplifies what intense and unregulated gold exploration and extraction are doing to this until-now privileged area in Peru.
Madre de Dios is a region rich in cotton, coffee, sugarcane, cacao, Brazil nuts and palm oil. But plentiful gold has attracted tens of thousands of illegal miners whose activities are having a deleterious effect on precious species in the environment as well as on the health and quality of life of both native and new populations in the region.