This publication compiles the reflections and experiences from the 14th Brazilian Communication Rally (Muticom), held in Manaus, Brazil, and proposes communication as a tool for connection, participation, advocacy, and social transformation in the Amazonian regions.
Communication as a way to listen to the territories, strengthen the voices of the peoples, and promote care for our Common Home is the central theme of the e-book “Communication and the Amazon: Reflections on Integral Ecology, Social Transformation, and Just Sustainability”, a publication that brings together the main reflections and experiences of the 14th Brazilian Communication Conference (Muticom), held September 25–28, 2025, in Manaus, Amazonas.
Edited by Ricardo Alvarenga and Osnilda Lima, the book features 24 chapters written by researchers, communicators, journalists, pastoral workers, educators, and individuals involved in community and socio-environmental initiatives. The book aims to preserve the legacy of the gathering while offering tools for new experiences in training, communication, and advocacy on behalf of the peoples and territories of the Amazon.
Under the theme “Communication and Integral Ecology: Transformation and Just Sustainability,” Muticom 2025 brought together hundreds of participants to reflect on the contemporary challenges of communication and its relationship to the defense of life, socio-environmental justice, education, spirituality, and care for our Common Home.
Three Confluences for Understanding, Caring, and Transforming
The book is organized into three major confluences, a structure inspired by the dynamics of the Amazonian rivers and the collective experience shared during the gathering.
The first, “Confluence I – Understanding to Transform: Foundations, Rights, Territories, and Memories”, brings together contributions on communication and social transformation, the right to information and communication, memory, socio-environmental justice, and communication from the Amazonian territories.
The second, “Confluence II – Learning to Care: Education, Spirituality, Good Living, and Ancestral Knowledge”, delves into the educational, spiritual, cultural, and community dimensions of communication. The texts highlight the importance of recognizing the knowledge of indigenous peoples, learning from the territories, and promoting practices that care for our Common Home.
Finally, “Confluencia III – Spreading the Word: Radio, Networks, Youth, and Mobilization” presents concrete experiences in community communication, radio, digital networks, youth training, activism, and mobilization for socio-environmental justice.
Among the experiences documented are initiatives linked to the Amazon News Network, radio broadcasting, digital activism, youth training, and socio-environmental campaigns, showcasing the diversity of ways in which communication can strengthen community processes and foster participation.
A map built from the voices of the participants
One of the central elements of the publication is the “Map of Confluences: Voices, Lessons Learned, and Collective Commitments of Muticom Participants,” developed from the reflections shared during the so-called Thematic Amazonian Rivers sessions.
The cartography captures the process experienced by the participants through four phases: Nascentes (Springheads), Correntezas (Currents), Travessias (Crossings), and Encontro das Águas (Meeting of the Waters).
These phases document the feelings and motivations that drove the gathering, the discoveries that emerged from listening, the paths opening up for action, and the commitments built collectively.
The proposal thus revisits one of Muticom’s most significant images: rivers that converge without losing their identity and that, upon meeting, generate new possibilities for life and movement.
Communicating from the Territories
The publication proposes an understanding of communication that goes beyond the transmission of information. Throughout its pages, communication is presented as a practice of listening, encounter, care, civic participation, education, advocacy, and social transformation.
This perspective takes on particular relevance in the Amazon, where communities, Indigenous peoples, social organizations, pastoral workers, and communicators face challenges related to the defense of territories, the protection of biodiversity, socio-environmental justice, and the preservation of Amazonian memories and cultures.
From this perspective, communication also becomes a space to strengthen narratives developed from within the territories themselves, to recognize ancestral knowledge, and to amplify the voices of those who have historically had less representation in the media and in public debates.
For the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA), this perspective addresses the challenge of continuing to build a Church with an Amazonian face—one capable of listening to the territories, recognizing the diversity of its peoples, and accompanying their efforts to defend life and care for our Common Home.
A Report That Becomes a Tool for Formation
More than just a record of Muticom 2025, “Communication and the Amazon” aims to become a resource for communicators, journalists, pastoral workers, educators, researchers, young people, community leaders, men and women religious, and all those committed to communication in the service of life.
The publication offers content that can be used in formation programs, community gatherings, pastoral settings, educational initiatives, and socio-environmental communication projects, keeping alive the memory of an experience built upon the diversity of voices and territories.
The book concludes with an invitation to continue the journey that began in Manaus: to make communication a space for encounter and dialogue, capable of building bridges between people, communities, and territories, and of contributing to the construction of a more fraternal, democratic, and sustainable society.
Like the Amazonian rivers, the experiences gathered in this publication remind us that each voice has its own identity, but that the encounter with other voices can generate a collective current capable of opening new paths for the defense of life and the care of our Common Home.