UN food leader urges billionaires to help

This is not rhetoric and B.S. Step up now, because the world needs you.

The head of the U.N.'s World Food Program is telling billionaires it's “time to step up” amid the threat of rising food insecurity worldwide and says he's seen encouraging signs that uber-tycoons like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are getting into the action.

WFP Executive Director David Beasley built upon a social-media standoff of sorts that he had with Musk last year, when the Tesla CEO challenged policy advocates to show how a $6 billion donation sought by the U.N. agency could solve world hunger.

Since then, Beasley told The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, that “Musk put $6 billion into a foundation. But everybody thought it came to us, but we ain't gotten any of it yet. So I'm hopeful.” He said of Musk: “We're trying every angle, you know: Elon, we need your help, brother.” Beasley said that message was for every billionaire because “the world is in real serious trouble. This is not rhetoric and B.S. Step up now, because the world needs you.”

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