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Billionaires could save world from misery: here's how

by Magdalena Mis | @magdalenamis1 | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Wednesday, 1 April 2015 17:50 GMT

* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

For example, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg could buy an island to relocate Syrian refugees with only a tiny fraction of his $33.4 billion fortune

By Magdalena Mis

LONDON, April 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The billions of dollars that Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and other luminaries committed to philanthropy through Warren Buffett's "Giving Pledge" website could end hunger for a year, buy new homes for the world's refugees and even buy a private island where they could live far from bombs and bullets.

And it's not an April Fool joke - I did the math.

For just under 50 million euros ($53.65 million) Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg could buy picturesque Dulichium island off Greece, peaceful and big enough to relocate the entire Zaatari refugee camp hosting more than 83,000 Syrians who fled conflict in their own country.

Even if Zuckerberg's commitment through "Giving Pledge" was to donate just half his wealth, the price of the island would still be a tiny fraction of his $33.4 billion fortune.

Bill Gates' pledge could cover not only the $22-$24 billion needed to combat AIDS in 2015, but also the entire U.N. humanitarian appeal of $16 billion and the $3.2 billion needed to feed the world's 66 million hungry children.

If Virgin Group founder Richard Branson chipped in with eBay founder Jeff Skoll, they could buy brand new solar-powered houses for all the world's 13 million refugees, as designed by IKEA for the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR).

The houses are big enough for five people, about the size of an average refugee family, and some $3 billion would be needed to buy the homes at $1,150 each.

And, while solving the world's problems is certainly not as simple as buying an island or a flat pack home, I did wonder what the money pledged on Warren Buffet's website could buy.

The issues mentioned here are just a small fraction of the world's problems and are not listed in order of urgency or importance. The choice of the names of pledgers was also random.

But, amid what seems to be a steady flow of appeals from various organisations, I simply wondered what could be financed if money pledged by those who have it was easily transferable into the accounts of those who ask.

The "Giving Pledge" site lists over 120 names and it's up to the pledgers to choose which organisations or causes they wish to support. It doesn't say how much money has already been spent.

The pledges are a moral commitment and are not legally binding but, the website says, the idea is to inspire the richest people to "make the world a better place".

The combined pledges of just nine billionaires listed on the website (Gates, Zuckerberg, Branson, Skoll, Buffet, Bloomberg, Sainsbury, Ellison and Lefkofsky) would produce a pot of at least $143 billion, enough to cover the $70-$100 billion needed to help the people of the world adjust to climate change.

It would also easily make up for the estimated $15 billion lost to West Africa's economies as a result of the Ebola crisis.

All of those are big needs with big price tags, but wouldn't it be amazing one day to simply make all those money transfers? ($1 = 0.9321 euros) (Reporting By Magdalena Mis; editing by Tim Pearce)

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