Bob Geldof addresses global food crisis at Belfast summit

Attending the One Young World Summit on Monday, Bob Geldof stressed the importance of finding solutions to the global food crisis, denouncing corporate contributions to global shortages and pollution.

The 71-year old Boomtown Rats frontman described the global food crisis as a ‘pandemic in silence’ and called for a ‘renaissance of thought’ to address the issue. He also said sustainability in a finite world is a "myth" and called for new solutions to the global food crisis...

The Dun Laoghaire native opened the plenary sessions on hunger at the One Young World Summit at the ICC centre.

The summit brought together more than 2,000 young leaders from 190 countries  to global issues.

"There are still millions, as we’ve heard all morning, who go to bed hungry at night," he said.

"That is sickening. It disgusts me. It is unnecessary, it is stupid. And it can stop. It is a very easy thing to feed the world."

"Over 820 million people as we keep hearing suffer from chronic undernourishment," he said.

"With the current population growth by 2050, as everyone knows, we will need to produce nearly 50% more food.

"We are asking of the planet more than it has to give. Sustainability in a finite world is an oxymoron. It’s a myth..."

In 1985, Geldof co-hosted Live Aid alongside Ultravox frontman, Midge Ure — raising millions of pounds to aid the famine in Ethiopia. Speaking to the young leaders, he urged them to devise new methods to tackle the "problem of food production, distribution and consumption".

"For decades, I’ve attended all the conferences and spoken at most. I’ve heard more or less the same thing everywhere all the time.

"I’d love today to be hearing something different," he stated.

"The One Young World Summit, despite a world that often seems in opposition, is a great gathering of hope. We need to gather, sit down, respect each other and figure out what we want from this better world."

It's always a pleasure sharing the stage with Sir Bob Geldof 👏🌍… pic.twitter.com/JvL3esHRIu

— One Young World (@OneYoungWorld) October 3, 2023

Geldof also condemned the pollution caused by corporations like PepsiCo: “I can’t stand the bullishness of PepsiCo who are not a food company. They make a nice drink, I love it, thanks very much. But please spare me the 60 million plastic bottles every year..."

Calling for a renewed and proactive response towards global issues of hunger, Geldof stressed that, "The fight for food is literally the fight for life..."

The One Young World Summit is set to continue in Belfast until Thursday.