The FAO Goodwill Ambassadors have expressed their support for the fight against hunger by signing the "Appeal against hunger", launched by FAO in 2003, during the first Round Table of FAO Goodwill Ambassadors held at FAO Headquarters on 15 October of that year.  The purpose of the Round Table was to acknowledge the contribution of these celebrities to FAO’s work, and discuss ways of raising public awareness of, and support to FAO’s goals and activities.

We, the FAO Ambassadors, gathered in Rome this 15th day of October 2003, commit ourselves to join forces with people all over the world in an International Alliance Against Hunger.

We find it unacceptable that, though the world produces a great abundance of food, more than 840 million people suffer from hunger and malnutrition. Worldwide, this means that almost one person in seven is chronically hungry - one person in five in the developing world.

Chronic hunger means that millions of children die before reaching their teens, adults never attain their full potential, and communities and nations are stalled on the road to development. Hunger in these proportions represents a stunning failure on the part of humanity.

We say that this state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue.

World leaders adopted the World Food Summit Declaration in 1996 and reiterated their commitment at the World Food Summit: five years later in 2002, calling on governments, international agencies, non-governmental organizations, civil society and the private sector "to reinforce their efforts so as to act as an international alliance against hunger" and achieve the goal of reducing hunger by half by 2015.

Humankind has the power to effect change: to end hunger, to fight poverty and disease, and to banish illiteracy. We cannot tolerate hunger and malnutrition. We have the techniques and the resources to eliminate them. What is lacking is human solidarity and political will.

For these reasons we, the FAO Ambassadors:

• pledge to inspire people everywhere to work together in an International Alliance against Hunger;
• call upon all people to help the least privileged people of the world finally to break out of the vicious circle of chronic hunger, poverty and undernourishment, and make a world where everyone has reliable access to safe and nutritious food;
• pledge to support the mission of FAO to help build a food-secure world for present and future generations;
• commit ourselves to use our talents and unique opportunities to help increase awareness and raise funds for the fight against hunger.

For us, the drive to defeat hunger is a question of personal responsibility. We want to be part of a generation that has achieved this goal.

Please join hands with us in the International Alliance Against Hunger.