According to the United Nations, more than 1 billion people — one of every six persons on this planet — go hungry each day. In a world of unprecedented prosperity, that statistic is shameful. More appalling still, the number of undernourished individuals is growing despite rising levels of affluence and wealth. It is a moral imperative that we halt this alarming trend and work to eliminate the growing problem of hunger worldwide.

If morality is not sufficient motivation, then more hard-nosed practical considerations should suffice: Hunger undermines growth, creates instability and ultimately threatens the legitimacy of an international order that condemns one-sixth of its members to a daily struggle to survive.

A survey of the global food situation paints a disturbing picture. According to the World Food Program (WFP), 1.02 billion people are undernourished, a number equal to the combined populations of the United States, Canada and Europe. Nearly all of them — 907 million — live in the developing world.