Piura () is a coastal department and region in northwestern Peru. The region's capital is Piura and its largest port cities, Paita and Talara, are also among the most important in Peru. The area is known for its tropical and dry beaches. It is the most populous department in Peru, its twelfth smallest department, and its fourth-most densely populated department, after Tumbes, La Libertad, and Lambayeque. The country's latest decentralization program is in hiatus after the proposal to merge departments was defeated in the national referendum in October 2005. The referendum held on October 30, 2005, as part of the ongoing decentralization process in Peru, to decide whether the region would merge with the current regions of Lambayeque and Tumbes to create a new Región Norte was defeated. Geography The Piura Region is bordered to the north by the Tumbes Region and Ecuador, to the east by Cajamarca Region, to the south by the Lambayeque Region, and to the west by the Pacific Ocean. "Punta Pariñas" in Piura is South America's most western point. The territory of the Piura Region has many climate variations due to its geographical location. It is just 4 degrees south of the equator, yet receives two ocean currents at the same time: the cold Humboldt Current (13–20 °C 55–68 °F) and the warm El Niño Current (20–27 °C, 68–80 °F). This makes the Piura Region a land that is both tropical and arid at the same time, The Land where the Tropics meets The Desert The coast is divided by the Peruvian subtropical desert of Sechura on the south and savanna-like scrub Tumbes–Piura dry forests to the center and north of the region. There are also small valleys of tropical climate, where rice and coconut fields are common, especially around the Piura and Sullana rivers. There is montane forest (selva alta) as one goes away from the coast onto the sierra. Páramo climates and cooler temperatures appear higher in the sierra. Topography is smooth in the coast and rough in the Sierra. There are many arid plains in the southern region. The Sechura Desert, located south of the Piura River, is Peru's largest desert and one of the world's few examples of a tropical desert; it borders a tropical terrain to the north. The Bayóvar Depression, which is the lowest point in Peru and all of the Southern Tropics, is located in this desert. The