The United Nations is preparing a $6 billion plan to try to ensure all of the world’s hungry people have a roof over their heads.
The plan, being unveiled Monday at a press conference, is being unveiled a year after the U.N. issued a report on the world’s food security situation, warning that more than 775 million people lived in countries where hunger was threatening their well-being.
While the plan is not a plan to meet all of the demands being made of it, it is designed to encourage the World Bank and other financial institutions to come forward with cash to help implement the plan.
“The seven billion mark is not in sight,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. “Yet hunger is not the price of globalization. Instead, it is a consequence of globalization, in which the global food supply has grown without truly ensuring access to healthy, safe, and affordable food.”
The seven billion figure is an attempt to bring the global population into line with current population growth rates, which has forced the world’s inhabitants to live more and more in urban areas. The idea behind the number is to help keep people’s consumption of food in line with how many of us actually live in town.
The plan will allocate about $1 billion per year for three years to provide some food assistance, promote crop yields, and clean water, and expand access to affordable water in rural areas.
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