September 23, 2008

WASHINGTON – In response to the growing challenges of climate change such as crop failure and increasing storms occurring across Africa, a delegation of Christians from Uganda and Zimbabwe are joining National Council of Churches USA (NCC) delegates September 22 – 27, to meet with Capitol Hill lawmakers to seek international adaptation assistance.

"The crops die," said delegate Rosemary Mayiga, a Ugandan Catholic and rural economist. "Farmers then have to plough and plant again. It is not moral for some people to go to bed with a full stomach when others go to bed with their stomach empty."

"The delegation aims to raise awareness about how global climate change impacts those living in poverty and to help people understand that climate change is a moral issue that demands timely action," said Tyler Edgar, delegation representative from the National Council of Churches.

Religious delegates also included Evelyn Nassuna, Lutheran World Relief (LWR) in Uganda; Daniel Nzengya, a professor at Africa University in Zimbabwe; Marcia Owens, African Methodist Episcopal Church; and John Hill, General Board of Church in Society at the United Methodist Church.

While in the United States, delegates will voice African concerns by briefing members of Congress and senior religious leaders on the devastating impacts of climate change on the countries in Africa and calling on both U.S. lawmakers and the United Nations to address these disproportionate impacts.

This trip is a continuation of a partnership formed between African Christian activists and representatives from the NCC who attended the recent UN Climate Negotiations in Accra, Ghana.

While in Accra, the religious delegates urged UN delegates to develop a new treaty, due for completion by the end of 2009, to slow global warming and provide strong adaptation measures for communities such as the farmers in Uganda.

Marcia Owens, a minister in the Florida branch of the African Methodist Episcopal Church who attended the Accra negotiations with the National Council of Churches said, "We hear about climate change as a political issue, an environmental issue and an economic issue. We want to press the point that this is a moral issue."

In response to the growing concern for Africans, more than five hundred people of faith have signed the NCC's solidarity statement, which welcomed the African delegates to the U.S. on September 22.

The NCC is the ecumenical voice of America's Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican, historic African American and traditional peace churches. These 35 communions have 45 million faithful members in 100,000 congregations in all 50 states.

National Council of Churches USA