On eve of food security summit, Ban to fast in solidarity with world’s hungry

(November 14, 2009) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon intends to join a 24-hour fast over the weekend on the eve of the World Summit on Food Security in solidarity with the planet’s one billion people who do not have enough to eat, his spokesperson said Friday. Mr. Ban will deliver a speech at the opening of the three-day summit in Rome on Monday in which he is expected to say that it is unacceptable that more than one billion go hungry when the world has more than enough food, Marie Okabe told a news briefing. “He will also highlight the human cost of the recent food, energy and economic crises and say that these crises are a wake-up call for tomorrow,” she added. “In particular, he will emphasize the link between food security and climate change.” Mr. Ban will stress that next month’s climate change meeting in Copenhagen must conclude a comprehensive agreement that will provide a firm foundation for a legally binding treaty on climate change. Pope Benedict XVI will be present at the opening of the FAO Summit and will address the participants and greet the Heads of State. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Wednesday called for a day-long, global hunger strike. “We are suggesting that everyone in the world who wants to show solidarity with the one hungry billion people on this planet go on hunger strike this weekend,” FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf told a press conference in Rome.