The exploitation and destruction of forests without much or any concern for the future has been a problem in many parts of the world for centuries. In recent decades tropical forests from South America to Indonesia have suffered at an accelerated rate.

Church leaders have tried to educate the faithful and to defend indigenous peoples in several places. Read Barb Fraze’s article, Church leaders defend Amazon region, people, which was published earlier this month in the Western Catholic Reporter, and learn about the public launch of a new pan-Amazonian network and why Latin American Church leaders are calling for a Church with an “Amazonian face.”