#AceNewsReport – Nov.04: In an interview with CNN, Mr Beasley said the world’s billionaires could give a combined ”$6 billion to help 42 million people that are literally going to die if we don’t reach them”.……………It’s not complicated,” he said.: Mr Musk, the owner of Tesla and SpaceX, responded to the call, albeit with some scepticism.

#AceDailyNews says according to ABC/AP Elon Musk offers $US6 billion to UN World Food Programme if it can prove it’ll end world hunger ……

The head of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), David Beasley, has been campaigning for the world’s wealthiest people to donate on a “one-time basis” to address dire food shortages affecting tens of millions of people AND 42 million people are at famine’s door – and US$6.6 billion could save them now: Cash would be used to provide a single meal a day for one year to stave off starvation

1 November 2021

A total 42 million people are on the brink of famine across 43 countries and the slightest shock will push them over the edge, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned today (1 Nov).

An instant cash injection of US$US6.6 billion would reel them back from the precipice, by providing a meal a day for each person for the next year. Without immediate emergency food assistance, they face starvation.

Issuing an urgent rallying call, WFP Chief Executive David Beasley said: “US$6 billion to help 42 million people that are literally going to die if we don’t reach them. It’s not complicated.

“While COVID is undeniably exacerbating fragility around the world, manmade conflict is driving instability and powering a destructive new wave of famine that threatens to sweep the world. The toll being paid in human misery is unimaginable.”

Afghanistan is becoming the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with the country’s needs surpassing those of the other worst-hit countries — Ethiopia, South Sudan, Syria and even Yemen.

A total 22.8 million people now face acute food insecurity in Afghanistan according to the latest IPC assessment — a global standard for assessing food insecurity — including 8.7 million facing emergency levels of food insecurity (IPC phase 4). New figures expected in the coming days are likely to show the situation has worsened even further.

WFP has never seen this many people facing emergency levels of food insecurity in the country, in the 10 years that the UN has been conducting IPC analyses.

Across the world, 15 million more people are at risk of starvation than was the case before the the COVID-19 pandemic.

The slightest shock — be it extreme weather linked to climate change, conflict, or the deadly interplay of both hunger drivers — may push tens of millions of people into irreversible peril, a prospect WFP has been warning of for more than a year.

WFP is undertaking the biggest operation in its history, targeting 139 million people this year. But there are immense hurdles. In 2020 extreme weather displaced 30 million people, while conflict displaced 10 million — figures that in tandem with the cost of responding are only expected to rise. Famine alert: How WFP is tackling this other deadly pandemic

WFP Chief Economist Arif Husain explained how spiralling costs were affecting the organization’s work and required urgent cash support.

“Food procurement prices are up 21 percent from a year ago — US$300 million more if we bought the same amount of food as last year,” he said. “Transport costs are through the roof because of high fuel prices — a container that cost US$1,000 a year ago now costs US$4,000 or even more.”

Updated figures due out this week are likely to paint an even bleaker picture of people in need, said Husain: “Don’t expect these numbers to go down unless we solve the conflicts, climate crises and economic fallout of COVID-19. I grieve when any child is harmed and we work every single day to give millions of children hope and a future.” 

WFP is uniquely positioned to stop famine in its tracks, and steer people away from the edge of starvation, with a deep-field presence, operations in over 80 countries and cutting-edge expertise acquired over decades fighting hunger.

The most powerful tool that WFP can deploy to save lives in the face of famine is emergency food assistance. This will remain critical to mitigate or avert the direct effects of food insecurity and famine in the short term.

To eliminate the threat of starvation and prevent famine entirely requires longer term and more complex interventions, including processes to strengthen education, nutrition, livelihood resilience and social protection systems.

He said if WFP could detail exactly how that amount of money would “solve world hunger” — a phase he borrowed from a CNN headline paraphrasing Mr Beasley — he would make the donation.

“If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it,” Mr Musk said on social media.

“It must be open source accounting, so the public sees precisely how the money is spent.”

Mr Musk’s net worth is estimated by Forbes to be more than $US315 billion ($420 billion), a number that has grown dramatically in recent weeks due in part to the soaring price of the Tesla shares he owns.

Mr Beasley said he never claimed the donation would solve world hunger — blaming the “inaccurate” headline on CNN for the misunderstanding — but that it would “prevent geopolitical instability, mass migration and save 42 million people on the brink of starvation”.

Mr Beasley made an offer to show Mr Musk “the plan, and open books” if he agreed to a meeting.

The World Food Programme won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to end world hunger, particularly by countering the use of hunger as a weapon of war.

WFP’s website says it urgently needs $US6.6 billion ($8.8 billion) in order to implement its “expertise, deep-field presence and operational scale to stop famine in its tracks, and steer people away from the edge of starvation”.

The organisation lists conflict as one of the biggest causes of global famine, and names Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria and Afghanistan as some of the countries most likely to be affected.

It says it addresses famine through emergency food assistance, rapid responses, and longer-term strategies.

In 2020, the agency received $US8.4 billion ($11.2 billion) in donations, which it says was $US5.3 billion ($7.1 billion) short of its requirements.

A 2020 internal audit of WFP’s management of contributions or donations found it was “partially satisfactory” but in need of some improvement.

Sources: ABC/AP/WFP/

#AceNewsDesk report ………….Published: Nov.04: 2021:

Editor says …Sterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram: https://t.me/acenewsdaily all of our posts fromTwitter can be found here: https://acetwitternews.wordpress.com/ and all wordpress and live posts and links here: https://acenewsroom.wordpress.com/and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and free help and guidance tips on your PC software or need help & guidance from our experts AcePCHelp.WordPress.Com