SANTAREM, Brazil (CNS) — Marluce Coelho has mixed feelings about the college scholarship that has made her one of about 300 students of Afro-Brazilian descent studying at the Federal University of Western Para.

ALTAMIRA, Brazil (CNS) — Treetops poke above the surface of the lake that laps at the shore of this Amazonian town. “People used to live there,” said Joana Gomes da Silva, pointing to the cluster of skeletal trunks and

MANAUS, Brazil (CNS) — On Christmas Eve of 2015, Marcia Soares’ home was bulldozed into oblivion, and with it, her dreams for the future.

SANTAREM, Brazil (CNS) — For more than three decades, Juscelina Silva Batista’s life has followed the rise and fall of the Amazon River. During the rainy season, she canoes practically to the door of her simple wooden house, skirting a raft that holds potted plants and a few chickens, and ducking under the long pods hanging from tamarind trees.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Climate change, water resources, inculturation and indigenous practices were among the topics discussed during the first afternoon session of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon.