Ending conflict is the ‘number one thing’ to reduce world hunger, says new WFP chief

“Conflict is a man-made situation. That is something we can solve,” Lindberg told reporters at UN Headquarters in New York in his first speech Press conference since taking office earlier this week.

“The number one thing we can do to reduce hunger in the world is to reduce the number of conflicts that occur around the world.”

Additionally, El Niño is expected to cause 49 million people to experience acute food insecurity, while bottlenecks in global supply chains will further exacerbate the problem, he said.

‘Big platitudes’

Mr. Lindberg said WFP it does not require “platitudes or big announcements” but its implementation, built on three priorities: protecting staff, strengthening donor partnerships and improving operations “a little better every day”.

More than 700 humanitarian workers have been killed in recent years while trying to save lives, he said. “No one should lose their life trying to save another person’s life.”

He also promised to do it continue to invest in disaster preparednessincluding through tools such as artificial intelligence, and “going big” on school meals.

First trip to Sudan

Lindberg said his first trip as Executive Director would be to Sudan in a few weeks, to thank frontline staff working in “the most challenging place on earth”.

Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia are the three operations the WFP is currently focused on, he said. “In the short term, there will be no more hunger.”

When asked about Gaza, he said the number of people experiencing hunger there was unacceptable, and added that although the WFP had access to food supplies, they were reducing the number due to lack of funds.

He vowed to defend WFP employees wherever they are. “If anywhere in the world there are people who attack humanitarian agencies, I will definitely do what I can to protect them,” he said.

‘Holistic approach’

Regarding funding, Lindberg said the United States is still the WFP’s largest funder, while the private sector is now the fifth largest donor. “No one country, no one entity can do this alone,” he said.

When asked whether he considered himself Washington’s representative at the UN, Lindberg called it an “unfair characterization”, and said that his mandate from the Secretary-General was to end hunger and that he would be a “team player” in the UN system.

Lindberg said US President Donald Trump had personally called him to ask him to be the US nominee for the post, and that he had a “good relationship” with many members of the Trump administration.

People “up to the president” in the US government want to support humanitarian work around the worldhe said, adding that WFP also needed to build closer donor partnerships with other countries.

Mr. Lindberg replaces Cindy McCain, who led WFP from April 2023 to May 2026, and Carl Skau, who served as Acting Executive Director since June.

The new WFP Chair previously served as Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs at the US Department of Agriculture.