The head of the World Food Program, David Beasley, said the Nobel Peace Prize brought the UN agency into the spotlight and allowed it to warn world leaders that the coming year will be worse than 2020 and that without billions of dollars, "in 2021 there will be famine of biblical proportions".
Beasley told The Associated Press that Norway's Nobel committee had taken into account his agency's daily work in areas of conflict, natural disasters and refugee camps, where employees often risk their lives to feed millions of hungry people, but that there was a desire to send " a message to the world that it is getting worse and that the hardest work is yet to come".
"It happened at the right moment because we were fighting to make our voices heard," Beasley said of the award last month, adding that the news had been dominated by the US election and the coronavirus pandemic and that it was difficult to draw global attention to "the farce that is unfolding." happening all over the world".
He called the Nobel prize "a gift from heaven" and said he was shocked when he was told the news.
Beasley recalled his warning to the UN Security Council in April that, in addition to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, the world is "on the brink of a famine pandemic" that could lead to "famine of biblical proportions" within months if immediate action is not taken.
"We managed to avoid that in 2020 (...) because world leaders responded with money, aid packages, delaying debt repayment," Beasley said.
According to him, the money that was available in 2020 will not be available in 2021, and that is why he used the Nobel Prize to talk to leaders, both online and in person, and parliaments to draw their attention to the "tragedy" and " crises that will be incredible in the next 12 to 18 months".
"Everybody wants to meet the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize," Beasley said, adding that now meetings with leaders last 15 minutes instead of 45 minutes.
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