Over 700 million people worldwide are suffering from a hunger crisis that leaves them unsure of when or if they will be able to eat again, and while financing for humanitarian efforts is running out, food demand is steadily rising, according to the head of the UN food organization.
The World Food Program’s executive director Cindy McCain informed the United Nations Security Council that the organization has had to reduce food rations for millions of people due to a shortage of money and that “more cuts are on the way.”
Global humanitarian needs are currently being fueled by a number of concurrent and protracted crises, she claimed. “This is the new reality for the humanitarian community; this is our new normal, and we will be dealing with the aftermath for years to come.
The late U.S. senator John McCain’s widow, the WFP chief, stated that the organization believes that almost 47 million people in over 50 countries are only one step away from famine and that an astounding 45 million children under the age of five are currently believed to be suffering from acute malnutrition.
Up to 783 million people, or one in ten of the world’s population, still go to bed hungry every night, according to estimates from 79 countries where the WFP operates. This year, more than 345 million people experienced severe food insecurity, up nearly 200 million from early 2021 before the COVID-19 epidemic, according to the agency.
“A deadly combination of conflict, economic shocks, climate extremes, and rising fertilizer prices” is the cause of the alarming numbers, according to WFP.
According to the agency, high fertilizer prices have led to a decline in the output of maize, rice, soybeans, and wheat at the same time that the economic effects of the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine have made food prices unaffordable for millions of people throughout the world.
McCain urged business leaders at the council meeting focused on humanitarian public-private partnerships, “Our collective challenge is to ramp up the ambitious, multi-sectorial partnerships that will enable us to tackle hunger and poverty effectively and reduce humanitarian needs over the long-term.” The goal is not only to raise money but also to develop creative ways to assist the world’s neediest.
The CEO of Mastercard, Michael Miebach, told the council that the private sector was viewed as a source of monetary donations for supplies and that “humanitarian relief has long been the domain of government” and development organizations.
He remarked, “Money is still crucial, but businesses can offer so much more. “The private sector is prepared to meet the current challenges alongside the public sector.”
Miebach emphasized that humanitarian issues have an effect on people all around the world and that “business cannot succeed in a failing world.” He claimed that businesses might utilize their knowledge to boost infrastructure, “innovate new approaches, and deliver solutions at scale” to enhance humanitarian efforts.
The revenue of many multinational corporations rivals the GDP of some of the Group of 20 nations with the largest economies, Jared Cohen, president of global relations at Goldman Sachs, told the council. Furthermore, he said that five American businesses and several of their international competitors employ more than 500,000 people, which is more than the combined populations of up to 20 U.N. members.
“Today’s global firms have responsibilities to our shareholders, clients, employees, communities, and the rules-based global economy that allows us to conduct business,” he said.
In the first place, Cohen argued, corporations may satisfy these obligations in times of crisis by not trying “to reinvent the wheel every time,” but rather by tapping into institutional memory and collaborating with other companies and the public sector.
Businesses, according to him, also need to “act quickly and innovate in real-time,” exploit local relationships, and contribute their experience to the humanitarian response.
The ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, Lana Nusseibeh, stated that the U.N. sought more than $54 billion this year, “and as of now, 80% of those funds remain unfulfilled,” demonstrating that “we are facing a system in crisis.”
She claimed that previously valuable additions, public-private collaborations are now essential to humanitarian efforts.
According to Nusseibeh, the UAE has spent the last ten years creating “a digital platform to support a government’s ability to better harness international support in the wake of natural disasters.” According to her, the UAE has also set up a significant logistics hub for humanitarian aid and is collaborating with private businesses and U.N. organizations on cutting-edge technologies to help people in need.
The most vulnerable people in the world are now “in a moment of great peril,” according to U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
Companies have stepped up, she noted, helping refugees in the United States as well as in Haiti and Ukraine, but for far too long “we have turned to the private sector exclusively for financing.”
Although businesses have demonstrated “enormous generosity,” we know they have much more to give in 2023. Their skills, expertise, and ideas are desperately needed, according to Thomas-Greenfield. The private sector’s expertise must be utilized by the public sector and put to use.
