The U.N.'s World Food Program Chief Has A Message For Billionaires
Asking people for money is always an awkward task. Still, Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) David Beasley isn't concerned with perceptions when challenging the world's wealthiest people to help end the global food crisis (per CNN). It's a lofty ask of the financially endowed folks who are busy with their metaverses and rocket ships, but not when considering that a tiny fraction of their net wealth could feed 42 million people.
Beasley has taken an unabashedly public approach when reaching out to billionaires. He often takes to Twitter, first congratulating the wealthiest world citizens on their elite endeavors, and then suggesting how they might use a much smaller amount of their fortunes to save people from starvation. As reported by CNN, Beasley says it would cost around $6 billion to provide aid to global citizens facing starvation due to food insecurity. It's a steal of a deal, considering that Elon Musk alone would only have to donate 2% of his amassed wealth to save people facing the hunger crisis.
Of the billionaires called out by Beasley, AP News notes Elon Musk publicly responded by asking the director to show how the WFP would utilize the money, and then donated 5 million Tesla shares worth around $5.7 billion to an unnamed charity. However, at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Beasley said that the WFP hadn't seen a dime from Musk's donation.
Beasley asks billionaires to help end food crisis
According to Global Citizen, the negative effects of climate change and food insecurities caused by the pandemic have accelerated the already increasing rate of people experiencing a food crisis and facing starvation. That might be news to the 56 new billionaires who experienced skyrocketing wealth during the first year of the pandemic alone. That's why the director of the World Food Programme (WFP), David Beasley, is asking the global elite to stop contributing to the problem and solve it instead.
Reuters notes that Beasley is not opposed to people and corporations turning a profit, but when considering the severity of the hunger crisis at hand, Beasley says the funding that could save people from certain death had to be requested. The director isn't limiting his plea for help to familiar names like Richard Branson and Larry Ellison but is asking the 2,000 billionaires worldwide with a net worth of $8 trillion to collectively do the right thing and donate the funds needed to feed citizens ravaged and endangered by hunger.
As threats to the global food supply continue to wreak havoc on the world's citizens, organizations like WFP and UNICEF continue to fight food insecurity by amping up their emergency nutrition and food assistance programs. Still, Beasley says the organizations are running out of money, and now is the time for billionaires to embark on the most critical endeavor of all–saving the world from hunger.