The World Food Program chief has lamented the severity of world hunger and said her biggest dream is to see no child goes hungry.

Worldwide, 1.02 billion people or one in six of the world's total population are suffering from hunger and a child dies of hunger in every six seconds.

"Every child deserves at least one humble cup of food a day," said Josette Sheeran, executive director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in an interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, showing a small red plastic cup.

"This is a cup from our school feeding program in Rwanda."

The world food chief said her life changed in 1986 when she saw an Ethiopian mother holding her 8-month-old child in the famine.

The child cried for food, but the mother could not satisfy the child's basic need, only to see the child die in her arms.

"No mother should have to hold their child and see them die in their arms," Sheeran stressed.

"Today, one out of every six people on planet Earth will wake up and not sure even how to fill up one humble cup of food," she said, "This is a challenge."

To help address the world hunger problem, the WFP has put a "1 billion for 1 billion" appeal on the Internet, calling on the 1 billion people on Earth who have enough food to contribute one euro a week to help the 1 billion people who do not have a cup of food.

Sheeran stressed that the hunger situation in the world is quite severe. "This is caused in part due to the severe weather, in fact the food crisis was triggered when Australia had a severe drought, coupled with a few other problems."

In many of the world's hunger hotspots where land is too dry or too wet, she said the conditions are going to get more severe. It is mainly because of drought, which has been lasting many years, that Africa has not been able to grow food.

It is predicted that it will get worse. A 50-percent reduction in yields of crops will happen over the next 10 years.

In Copenhagen, developing countries have urged developed countries to increase financing to help them deal with climate change.

"We need robust funding for adaptation," Sheeran said, "The adaptation fund is under discussion here and it needs to be robust and it needs to happen now.

"If people don't have food they will die," she added.

If one out of every six people on Earth do not have enough to eat, she said it is a "peace and stability issue."

Countries that have experienced hunger know this. She believed that this is "not charity" but "in the self-interest of the world."

She is satisfied with China's aid to poor countries, saying that China is "one of our great partners in helping out of hunger in the world."

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2009)