Despite the fact that there are 300 million fewer hungry people now than in the 1990s, hunger remains one of the biggest and most solvable problems in the world. Hunger can be ended. WFP works to eliminate hunger every second of the day, feeding 95 million people in urgent need and implementing programmes to tackle its causes. Around the world, 690 million people will go to bed on an empty stomach tonight.
According to a United Nations survey, there was a dramatic worsening of world hunger likely related to the fallout of COVID-19. While the pandemic’s impact has yet to be fully mapped, a multi-agency report estimates that around a tenth of the global population up to 811 million people were undernourished last year. The number suggests it will take a tremendous effort for the world to honour its pledge to end hunger by 2030.
David Beasely, Executive Director of the UN World food programme questioned the world leaders & the billionaires: imagine if this was your child or your grandchild about to starve, you would do everything you possibly could to save them While there’s $400 trillion of wealth in the world today, shame on us that we let a single child die of hunger.
The Director of the United Nations World Food Programme laid out a plan to spend $6.6 billion to combat world hunger – a direct response to a back-and-forth with Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted, “If WFP can describe on this Twitter thread exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now”.
Beasley responded to Musk on Twitter, writing $6 billion will not solve world hunger, “but it will prevent geopolitical instability, mass migration and save 42 million people on the brink of starvation. An unprecedented crisis and a perfect storm due to Covid/conflict/climate crises.” He also offered to meet with Musk to discuss the topic.
“ Please Publish Your current & proposed pending in detail so people can see exactly where the money goes, ” Musk said in a Twitter Reply. “Sunlight is a wonderful thing ” Meanwhile, Musk’s net worth rose by $24 billion to $335.1 billion; the electric automaker’s shares jumped 8.59% in New York. That widened his lead over Armazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos as the world’s wealthiest person to $143 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
In 2020, the agency received $8.4 billion in donations, which it says was $5.3 billion short of its requirements. Its top donors include the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Musk showed interest in donating his money but there is a catch, he replied on Twitter “ But it must be open source accounting, so the public can see precisely how the money is spent” hinting at the world’s largest open P2P money “BITCOIN”. Bitcoin is open-source; its design is public; nobody owns or controls Bitcoin, and everyone can take part. Bitcoin will bring transparency in the disbursal of the funds or donations received from governments, the World Bank, or public donations.
Advantages of donating in Bitcoin :
- Bitcoin will bring end-to-end transparency into the ecosystem of transfer or donation of funds by Government or donations or World Bank.
- Bitcoin-based processes will certainly prevent corrupt officials from siphoning away these funds as the entire transaction and distribution process is made transparent and public.
- Bitcoin will create a permanent record of the flow of funds that can easily be audited from anywhere by anyone.
- Saving the money on taxes, the amount can be donated in Bitcoin directly, there won’t be any deduction on account of long-term capital gains tax on cryptocurrency. Since there are no regulations not yet, at least for Bitcoin,donations are completely tax-free.
- The cost of a transaction for an organization receiving a donation is also less compared to an amount received through a credit or debit card. Bitcoin Avg. Transaction Fee is 2.36$
It is unclear whether Musk was serious about his offer, amid Musk had sold roughly 8.2 million shares in the electric car and solar panel maker in the past nine days, worth a total of just over $8.8 billion.
Of those, Musk sold 2.8 million shares worth about $3 billion specifically to pay taxes on three tranches of stock options, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. That means he has sold roughly $5 billion more in shares than he needs at present.
“For those wondering, I will pay over $11 billion in taxes this year,” Elon tweeted on 19th December. He faces a hefty tax bill this year – possibly the biggest in U.S. history as stock options Musk was awarded in 2012 are set to expire in August next year. In order to exercise them, he has to pay income tax on the gain.
Six billion dollars worth of Tesla shares would be larger than any known charitable donation Musk has ever made. Earlier this year, Musk pledged to give away $150 million, including a $100 million prize in a carbon removal contest.
The SpaceX founder wants to send humans to Mars this decade, saying in an interview last year that he was confident a crewed mission could take place in 2026. Musk, who is a father of seven kids, responded to a tweet which said, “Population collapse could be upon us, but we appreciate that you good sir are still making tangible efforts to stave it off,” Musk, in response, “I’m trying to set a good example! Population collapse is a much bigger problem than people realize, and that’s just for Earth. Mars has a great need for people, seeing as the population is currently zero. Humans are the custodians of other life on Earth. Let us bring life to Mars!” he wrote on Twitter, on 18 Jan Elon Musk mentioned this issue again by writing “ we should be much more worried about population collapse”
Musk’s comments come at a time when many nations report declining fertility rates. The world’s two most populous nations, China and India, both reported fertility rates below 2.1. A fertility rate of 2.1 is the replacement rate, at which the population of a country neither increases nor decreases. A fertility rate of below 2.1 indicates that the population of the country would be on a decline, as not enough babies are born to replace those who are dying each year.
“If people don’t have more children, civilization is going to crumble. Mark my words,” Musk added. Musk stated that while many “good, smart people” believe that overpopulation is a risk that is not the case. On the other hand governments across the world are worried about 690 million people going to bed on an empty stomach every day.
Elon Musk has been criticized for not giving away more of his massive fortune, though he has also said he prefers to remain anonymous when giving away money.
To end hunger permanently, Governments across the world must also rebuild a fairer and more sustainable global economy as they recover from the pandemic. They must tackle these key drivers of hunger and eradicate the underlying inequalities that widen the gap between rich and poor people.
Here’s a list of some of the notable organizations that accept donations in cryptocurrency:
- UNICEF
- Save The Children
- Freedom of Press Foundation
- Internet Archive
- Human Rights Foundation
- American Red Cross
- The Water Project
The UN World Food program is not on the list and we would like to see it accepting Bitcoin and crypto as donations and bringing transparency to end the world hunger crisis.
“There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Let’s not wait for anyone to make the world hunger-free! Together we can take a small step towards making the world hunger-free.
Donate Today at the UN World Food program. https://www.wfp.org/
