Last week, the United Nation’s World Food Programme won the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize “for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”
The World Food Programme (WFP) was established in 1961 as the food-assistance branch of the United Nations. Its first major emergency outreach followed an earthquake in northern Iran in 1962 when the WFP delivered 1,500 metric tons of wheat, 270 tons of sugar, and 27 tons of tea to survivors. Over the next six decades, the WFP has provided emergency relief, cash- and in-kind food assistance, humanitarian support and services, and helped countries strengthen their food security, sustainability, and resilience against climate change, environmental degradation, water scarcity, disease, and population growth.
Recent efforts of the WFP include the Building Blocks programme to distribute money-for-food assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan, and responding to hunger crises in Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, North Eastern Nigeria, and the countries of Central Sahel. In 2019, the WFP provided assistance to almost 100 million people in 88 countries. More than 80 percent of resources requested by UN humanitarian appeals have been for areas impacted by violent conflict, and worldwide food insecurity has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2015, the UN established Zero Hunger by 2030 as one of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and the World Food Programme has a five-step vision for achieving that goal. With hunger on the rise since 2016 and the impact of COVID-19 on food supply and distribution, the WFP has announced it needs $6.8 billion in funding to avert famine triggered by the pandemic crisis. Donate now to support their humanitarian efforts.
From the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020 Announcement:
The link between hunger and armed conflict is a vicious circle: war and conflict can cause food insecurity and hunger, just as hunger and food insecurity can cause latent conflicts to flare up and trigger the use of violence. We will never achieve the goal of zero hunger unless we also put an end to war and armed conflict.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to emphasise that providing assistance to increase food security not only prevents hunger, but can also help to improve prospects for stability and peace. The World Food Programme has taken the lead in combining humanitarian work with peace efforts through pioneering projects in South America, Africa and Asia.
…
With this year’s award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to turn the eyes of the world towards the millions of people who suffer from or face the threat of hunger. The World Food Programme plays a key role in multilateral cooperation on making food security an instrument of peace, and has made a strong contribution towards mobilising UN Member States to combat the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict. The organisation contributes daily to advancing the fraternity of nations referred to in Alfred Nobel’s will. As the UN’s largest specialised agency, the World Food Programme is a modern version of the peace congresses that the Nobel Peace Prize is intended to promote.
The work of the World Food Programme to the benefit of humankind is an endeavour that all the nations of the world should be able to endorse and support.