Auza was speaking during a UN Committee debate on "Agricultural Development, Food Security and Nutrition". Quoting Pope Francis, he told the Committee the solution can be found in "practical solidarity to ensure the right of every person to be free of poverty and hunger".

He also told the Committee it is clear but "severely disappointing" that, based on current trends, "the world is not on track to eradicate hunger and malnutrition by 2030."

Auza said a recent UN Secretary General's report highlights the magnitude of the challenge:

• About 800 million people (one in nine of the world's population) lack access to adequate amounts of basic food
• Over 150 million children continue to suffer from severe malnutrition
• People living in war and conflict areas are especially vulnerable
• Hunger in war and conflict areas has increased sharply in just one year: from 80 to 108 million
• At the "current pace of implementation, the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal 2 will not be realized and its targets will not be achieved in many parts of the world"
• Large segments of the world's population, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, will remain undernourished or malnourished by 2030
• Despite great progress in alleviating poverty in many regions of the world, hunger and malnutrition will continue to be major barriers to achieving sustainable development.

Source

• Zenit
• Image: JimmyJoe.com

But you knew that in a short time the next meal would be there for you. Knowing that a good meal was awaiting you allowed your slight hunger to actually whet your appetite.

Now imagine that you are very hungry and have no idea where the next meal will come from for you and your family. In this case your hunger is physically painful and terrifyingly stressful.

Imagine now that there is no work to be found, the drought has dried up your crops. Your livestock is dead. And you and your family have eaten the last seeds that were meant for next season's planting.

Now how are you feeling?

This is how many Africans are feeling, especially those in South Sudan, Somalia, Northeast Nigeria, and nearby Yemen. In these nations over 20 million people are facing famine and starvation.

Armed conflict and severe drought are the main engines driving this emergency - the world's largest humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II (see: http://arcg.is/2tjzoRe).

"Without collective and coordinated global efforts, people will simply starve to death" and "many more will suffer and die from disease," said Stephen O'Brien, U.N. under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.

He emphasized that to avert a catastrophe, immediate adequate funding from wealthy nations is critical.

O'Brien said the largest humanitarian emergency was in Yemen - the Arab world's poorest nation - where two-thirds of the population - 18.8 million people - desperately need aid, and over seven million people are hungry and don't know where their next meal will come from (see: http://bit.ly/2ks1Mvt).

Compounding the famine, Yemen is now facing the world's worst cholera outbreak according to the U.N. which has placed blame on all sides of the nation's ongoing conflict between the U.S.-backed Saudi Arabia-led coalition and the Houthis (see: http://cbsn.ws/2ui2bph).

An editor friend of mine in Nigeria put me in touch with Bishop Stephen Mamza, head of the northeast Nigerian Diocese of Yola. Bishop Mamza sent me a report with his assessment of the crisis in Yola.

His report states that the U.N. World Food Program's response to the food crisis in Nigeria is critically underfunded, meaning that hundreds of thousands of food insecure Northeast Nigerians are not being helped.

Bishop Mamza wrote that he and other diocesan aid workers visited a makeshift settlement where "we met scores of hungry, malnourished and crying children who told us that they had not eaten for three days."

Caritas New Zealand is working with its partners in South Sudan to help save the lives of millions of people facing starvation, and responding to thousands of others in Kenya facing serious food shortages. Donate to the East Africa Crisis Appeal.

"For I was hungry and you gave me food" (Matt. 25: 31-46).

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings about Catholic social teaching. His keynote address, "Advancing the Kingdom of God in the 21st Century," has been well received by diocesan and parish gatherings from Santa Clara, Calif. to Baltimore, Md. Tony can be reached at tmag@zoominternet.net

With the failure of United Nations-brokered peace talks in Geneva, Fr Frans Van der Lugt, told 'The Telegraph' that food has run out and starvation is beginning to cause people to lose their minds.

Speaking via Skype he described Homs as "a lawless jungle".

The 75 year old Dutch priest told of how residents, cut off for more than an year are developing mental health problems, leading to a breakdown of social order.

"We are trying our best to behave in a fraternal way so we don't turn on each other for the hunger", he said.

The priest took to using social media, posting a video on YouTube after the United Nations failed in its effort to get support for humanitarian aid.

For more than a year no food has been allowed in and no one is allowed out, he said.

Fr Van der Lugt, who has lived in Syria since 1966, told 'The Telegraph' the Old City used to be home to 60,000 Christians, with 10 churches in the besieged areas. "Now I find myself alone with only 66 other Christians," he said, adding that they have a close relationship with the Muslim residents who are also trapped in the siege.

"We are afraid that the international community has abandoned us. They look for their interests, this is politics, but they have to know that the Syrian people are suffering," he said.

Sources:

• The Telegraph
• Image: National Post

"A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth ... to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness, and respect for every human being," he said.

The Pope urged FAO members to push for substantial changes, "inspired by something more than mere good will or — worse — promises which all too often have not been kept".

He said food shortages are aggravated not only by the current worldwide economic downturn, but also by the number of military conflicts in needy nations.

He also said the FAO should be mindful of climate change and of biological diversity as it makes plans for addressing the problem of secure food supplies.

The Pope noted that there are many possible initiatives and solutions and that they don't only have to do with increasing production seeing that current levels of production are sufficient,

Pope Francis decried the reliance on "vague abstractions in the face of issues like the use of force, war, malnutrition, marginalisation, the violation of basic liberties, and financial speculation".

Food, he said, cannot be treated as just one more sort of merchandise. Political leaders must recognise the urgent moral necessity for ensuring adequate food supplies for everyone.

Pope Francis said that the shortages occurring in the world today are "a consequence of a crisis of convictions and values, including those which are the basis of international life".

He asked the FAO, its member states and the entire international community to open their hearts.

"There is a need to move beyond indifference and a tendency to look the other way, and urgently to attend to immediate needs … leaving behind the temptations of power, wealth, or self-interest and instead serving the human family, especially the needy and those suffering from hunger and malnutrition," he said.

Sources:

Vatican Information Service

Vatican Radio

Image: USA Today