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Pope at UN Demands Response to Hunger, Climate, Migration

Pope at UN Demands Response to Hunger, Climate, Migration
Pope at UN Demands Response to Hunger, Climate, Migration

Pope Francis demanded Monday that world governments collectively commit to end rising world hunger by resolving the conflicts and climate change-related disasters that force people to leave their homes in search of their daily bread.

Francis drew a standing ovation Monday at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, where he marked the UN’s World Food Day by calling for governments to work together to tackle the interconnected problems of hunger, global warming and migration, AP reported.

He cited the Paris climate accord, in which governments committed to capping heat-trapping emissions, as an example of taking action to fight global warming based on scientific evidence. But in what appeared to be a jab at the United States, which has announced it is withdrawing from the accord, Francis lamented that “unfortunately some are distancing themselves from it.”

Francis said negligence and greed over the world’s limited resources are harming the planet and its most vulnerable people, forcing many to abandon their homes in search of work and food.

“We are called to propose a change in lifestyle and the use of resources,” Francis told the audience, which included agriculture ministers from the Group of Seven nations. “We cannot make do by saying ‘someone else will do it.’” Last month, the UN reported that the number of chronically hungry people in the world was rising again after a decade of declines thanks to prolonged conflicts and climate change-related floods and droughts.

While the 815 million chronically undernourished people last year is still below the 900 million registered in 2000, the UN warned that the increase “is cause for great concern.”

 

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