In July 2013 more than two million participants travelled along with Pope Francis to Rio de Janeiro to celebrate the World Youth Day of the Catholic Church, where the life-size Bread Tank rolled again to raise awareness for the fact that every ten seconds a child dies of malnutrition, whilst at the same time over 1.7 billion USD are spent on arms and the military, and that that by redirecting only 10 percent of these expenses world hunger and extreme poverty could be eliminated. Hundreds of thousands of young people saw this important message. The Catholic Church asked for a report about the success of the Bread Tank. You can find some more pictures of it here.

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To underline the realistic possibility of eradicating hunger and extreme poverty by redirecting military spending we first presented the Bread Tank at the Rio +20 conference in 2012.

The Appeal

In 2011 global military spending amounted to $1.74 trillion – despite the fact that 1 billion people suffer from hunger, still more have no access to safe water or adequate health care and education, and even in the industrialised world millions are without work. Disarmament is a necessary condition for sustainable development. We therefore demand that the governments of the world seriously address this neglected issue of peace and disarmament and agree on a global plan for disarmament at the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June 2012. Starting in 2013, military spending should be cut back substantially – a minimum of 10 % per annum. The freed-up funds should be used for social, economic and ecological programmes in all countries.

Join hundreds of other signatories, including Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, distinguished scientists and international organisations in signing our appeal.

The Bread Tank

At Rio+20 we present an edible, life-sized tank made of bread. This unique mobile sculpture, measuring 8m x 4m x 3m, is a symbol of how the world’s military budget should really be used – to fund sustainable development, fight hunger and extreme poverty, improve food and water security, and provide education and healthcare.

No bread is wasted: Remaining food is donated to a charitable food bank. The Bread Tank is accompanied by an exhibition that juxtaposes current military spending with money requried to finance exemplary social and ecological measures.

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