NEW DELHI: United Nations’ agency World Food Program (WFP) recently warned global leaders that next year is going to be worse than this year. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning agency said that without billions of dollars, the world will have famines of biblical proportions in 2021.
David Beasley, Head, WFP, said that due to news being dominated by America’s presidential elections and the coronavirus pandemic, there has been difficulty in attracting attention to the hunger situation that we are facing globally. He said, “We were able to divert it in 2020 because the world leaders responded with money, stimulus packages, deferral of debt.” He added that the money that was available in 2020 is not going to be available in 2021.
Beasley estimated that WFP will need 5 billion dollars just to avert famine and USD 10 billion to carry out the agency’s global programmes. Beasley said his other “great hope” in addition to funds from governments, is that billionaires who have made billions during the COVID-19 pandemic will step up on a one-time basis.