Washington, September 8, 2021
200 Leaders Call for New UN Office to Coordinate Global Research to Prevent Human Extinction
Earth’s magnetic shield weakening, ocean-poisoning hydrogen-sulfide gas from advanced global warning, out-of-control nanotech and AI, are among the possible future threats to humanity, warn The Millennium Project, World Futures Studies Federation, and the Association of Professional Futurists.
In an open letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, internet pioneer Vint Cerf, Nobel Prize Laureate Oscar Arias, and other technological, business, political, technological, environmental, and academic leaders around the world are calling for a new UN Office of Strategic Threats to coordinate global research on long-range strategic or existential threats to humanity, and to their prevention.
The letter [attached] requests that the UN Secretariat conduct a feasibility study for the proposed UN Office. “The immediate crises always seem to overrule the long-term concerns about the future of humanity. So, we need a specific UN Office that just focuses on what could make us go extinct and how to prevent it,” said Jerome Glenn, CEO of The Millennium Project.”
The UN already has agencies that are addressing many of the serious trends today—such as decreasing fresh water per capita, concentration of wealth, and ethnic violence—but these do not pose a threat to the survival of our species.
Long-term threats
However, there are long-term threats that do, such as the ten below:
- Weakening of the Earth’s magnetic shield that protects us from deadly solar radiation
- Massive discharges of hydrogen sulfate (H2S) from de-oxygenated oceans, caused by advanced global warming
- Malicious nanotechnology (including the “gray goo” problem)
- Loss of control over future forms of artificial intelligence
- A single individual acting alone, who could one day create and deploy a weapon of mass destruction (most likely from synthetic biology)
- Nuclear war escalation
- Uncontrollable, more-severe pandemics
- A particle accelerator accident
- Solar gamma-ray bursts
- An asteroid collision.
“There is no single point for collaboration in the UN system that addresses such long-term threats to human survival,” said Ambassador Héctor Casanueva, former Chilean Ambassador to UN multilateral organizations in Geneva. “A UN Office on Strategic and Existential Threats to humanity could identify, monitor, anticipate, and coordinate strategic research on a global scale to prevent these threats, he suggested. “It would serve international agencies, multilateral organizations, nation-states, and humanity in general.”
The idea of a new UN Office was raised during the celebration of the annual “World Future Day” on March 1, 2021, a global online conference of nearly a thousand experts from 65 countries. The Millennium Project, which hosts World Future Day, suggested that a resolution be offered at the next UN General Assembly, to be held in September 2021. It would give the UN Secretariat the mandate to conduct a feasibility study of the proposed UN Office of Strategic Threats.
Open letter to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for feasibility study of a UN Office of Strategic Threats
September 8, 2021
Dear Mr. Secretary General,
Long-range strategic threats to the survival of humanity are well-documented, ranging from the potential of advanced artificial intelligence growing beyond human control to weakening magnetic fields that protect life on Earth.
Although the United Nations includes agencies that are addressing many of the problems facing humanity today, there is no central office to identify, monitor, anticipate, and coordinate research on long-term strategic threats to humanity.
A UN Office on Strategic Threats, which would centralize and coordinate information and prospective studies on a global scale, could serve international agencies, multilateral organizations, nation-states, the private sector, academia, and humanity in general. We think that the Office could be created without putting pressure on the budget of the organization, reallocating resources and coordinating its work with universities and research centers around the world.
This idea was raised and discussed in detail during World Future Day, March 1, 2021, a 24-hour conversation of nearly a thousand experts from 65 countries, organized by several international associations of futurists and think tanks to discuss strategies for improving the global future.
The signatories of this open letter – academics, diplomats, scientists, and experts in foresight and strategy from different countries and sectors – ask Your Excellency to welcome and facilitate the adoption of a UN General Assembly Resolution at this September’s General Assembly that would give the General Secretariat the mandate to conduct a feasibility study on establishing a UN Office on Strategic Threats.
Sincerely,
- Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, Author, Geostrategist, Former Dir. of Foreign Policy & Security Think Tank, Sri Lanka
- Nancy Ellen Abrams, Author, Philosopher of Science, Attorney at Law, USA
- Sergio Abreu, Secretary General, Latin American Integration Association (ALADI), Uruguay
- Philip Omoniyi Adetiloye, Professor, Federal University of Agriculture, Nigeria
- Rosa Alegria, Representative, Teach the Future Brazil, Brazil
- Soledad, Alvear, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Former Senator, Chile
- Jan Amkreutz, Author, futurist, speaker, The Netherlands & USA
- Janna Q. Anderson, Executive Director, Imagining the Internet Center, Elon University, USA
- Yul Anderson, President, African American Future Society, USA
- Amara D. Angelica, Editor-at-Large, KurzweilAI, USA
- Shahar Avin, Senior Research Associate, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk University of Cambridge, UK
- Diana Baciuna, Local Councillor, Bucharest Borough 4, Romania
- Guillermina Baena Paz, VP Latin America WFSF, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico
- Ying Bai, Vice President, Academy of Soft Technology, China
- SJ Beard, Academic Programme Manager, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk Cambridge, UK
- Clem Bezold, Co-Founder, Institute for Alternative Futures, USA
- James Boyd, Complex Systems, SingularityNet, USA
- Pedro Bretes Amador, CEO and Co-Founder, NewWay, Foresight, Portugal
- Gregory Brown, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University, Senior Analyst, CENTRA Technology, USA
- Steve Brown, Founder, The Futures Collaborative, USA
- James E. Burke, Foresight and Solutions Navigator, DeepDive Foresight, USA
- Iurie Calestru, Program Director, Institute for Development and Expertise of Projects, Moldova
- Franklin A. Carrero-Martinez, Sr. Dir. Global Sustainability, National Academy of Sciences, Eng., and Med., USA
- Hector Casanueva, VP Chilean Council of Foresight and Strategy, Former Amb. Geneva, Prof.-Res. University of Alcalá, Chile & Spain
- Shiela R. Castillo, Futures Learning Advisor, The Center For Engaged Foresight, Philippines
- Vint Cerf, Internet Pioneer, Google, USA
- Sadok Chaabane, Former Min. of Justice & Higher Educ., GM, Polytechnique Internationale University, Tunisia
- Richard J. Chasdi, Professorial Lecturer, George Washington University, USA
- Puruesh Chaudhary, Founder &President , AGAHI, Pakistan
- Marvin Cheung, Board Member, Unbuilt Labs, USA
- Thomas J. Christiffel, Principal, Regional Intelligence-Regional Communities, USA
- Epaminondas Christophilopoulos, Deputy Chair Foresight Team, Office of the President of Greece, Greece
- Reynaldo Treviño, Cisneros, Consultant, Systems and Strategic Planning, Mexico
- Anthony Clayton, Professor, University of West Indies, Jamaica
- Deborah Clifford, Head of Finance, Woolworths, South Africa
- Jose Cordeiro, Executive Director, Ibero-American Foresight Network, Venezuela and Spain
- Raluca Coscodaru, Consultant/Professor, Innovation and entrepreneurship, Romania
- Catherine, Cosgrove, Futurist, Canada
- William Cosgrove, Former Vice President, World Bank, Canada
- Shermon Cruz, Executive Director, Center for Engaged Foresight, Philippines
- Cornelia Daheim, Founder & Dir. Future Impacts; Chair, Futures Circle, Min. of Educ. and Res., Germany
- Jim Dator, Professor Emeritus, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Hawaii
- Philippe Destatte, Director, The Destree Institute, Belgium
- Mara Di Berardo, Technologist, Institute Nanoscience of the National Research Council , Italy
- Simone Di Zio, Associate Professor, University G. d’Annunzio, Italy
- Pedro Miguel Diegues, Consultant, Foresight & Strategy, Portugal
- Peachie Dioquino-Valera, Advisor, Center for Engaged Foresight, Philippines
- Hugh T. Dugan, Former Special Assistant to the President, National Security Council, USA
- Paul Epping, Chairman, Xponential, The Netherlands
- Jelel Ezzine, President, Tunisian Association for the Advancement of ST&I (TAASTI), Tunisia
- Daniel Faggella, CEO, Emerj Artificial Intelligence Research, USA
- Horacio Martin Ferber, Faculty, National University of Avellaneda, Argentina
- Elizabeth Florescu, Director of Research, The Millennium Project, Canada
- Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, Former President of Chile, Chile
- Michael Friebe, Prof. Health Tech., Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
- Caroline Figuères, Former Director, International Inst. for Com. and Dev.(IICD), The Netherlands
- Luciano Gallón, Professor, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Colombia
- Adolfo Arreola García, Professor, Anáhuac University, Mexico
- Banning Garrett, Faculty, Singularity University, USA
- Lydia Garrido Luzardo, UNESCO Chair Anticipation and Resilience, SARAS Institute, Uruguay
- Jose María Gil Robles, Former President , European Parliament, Spain
- Fausto Carbajal Glass, Member, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)., Mexico
- Jerome C. Glenn, CEO, The Millennium Project, USA
- Willis Goldbeck, Founder, Foresight Education, USA
- Blaž Golob, CEO GFS Institute, Chair, Forum on Future of Europe, Slovenia
- Abhik Gupta, Vice-Chairperson, Tripura State Higher Education Council, India
- Antonio Gutelli, Docente, Juan A. Maza University, Argentina
- Miguel Angel Gutierrez, Director, Centro Latinomericano de Globalización y Prospectiva, Argentina
- Mohammad Habib, Partner, Director, MENA Region, Siegel® MCAN, Jordan
- Cathy Hackl, Chief Metaverse Officer, Futures Intelligence Group, USA
- William E. Halal, CEO, TechCast International, USA
- Aharon Hauptman, Fellow, Zvi Meitar Institute for Implications of Emerging Technologies, Israel
- Peter Hayward, Co-host, Futurepod.org, Australia
- Sirkka Heinonen, Professor Emeriti, Finland Futures Research Centre, Finland
- Lucio Mauricio Henao Vélez, CEO, Prospectiva.org, Colombia
- Éva Hideg, Professor, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
- Brock Hinzmann, Partner, Business Futures Network, USA
- Cyrus Hodes, Chair AI Initiative, The Future Society, France
- Razvan, Hoinaru, Former Chief of Staff, EPP Romanian Delegation, EU Parliament, Romania
- Philip Horvath, Partner, Luman, Germany
- Adriana Hoyos, Professor/Senior Fellow, Instituto de Empresa (IE) Harvard University, Spain & USA
- Arnoldo de Hoyos, Professor, Pontificial Catholic University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Claudio Huepe, Director, Center of Sustainable Energy, Universidad Diego Portales, Chile
- Barry B. Hughes, Professor, University of Denver, USA
- Jan Hurwitch, Director, Visionary Ethics Foundation, Costa Rica
- Asif Iftikhar, Teaching Fellow, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan
- Enrique V. Iglesias, Former President, Intern-American Development Bank, Uruguay
- Lester Ingber, CEO, Physical Studies Institute LLC, USA
- Jose Miguel Insulza, former Secretary General, Organization of American States (OAS), Chile
- Silvia Iratchet, Institutional Relations, Suma Veritas Foundation, Argentina
- Abulgasem Issa, Associate Professor, Libyan Authority for Scientific Researches, Libya
- Garry Jacobs, President & CEO, World Academy of Art and Science, India
- Maciej Jagaciak, Member of the Board, Polish Society for Futures Studies, Poland
- Alejandro Jara, Former Associate DG WTO Geneva, Former Ambassador, Chile
- Robert E. Jarrett, Senior Fellow (ret.), US Army Environmental Policy Institute, USA
- Weiquing Jiang, Chairman, UN Ethics Chinese Union, China
- Zhouying Jin, Prof. and Former Director, Center for Technology Innovation and Strategy, Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China
- Maria João Rodrigues, Pres. Foundation for European Progressive Studies, Former Min. Employment, Former MEP and VP of the Group of the Socialists and Democrats, European Parliament, Portugal
- Christopher B. Jones, Faculty, Walden University, USA
- Michel Judkiewicz, Managing Director, Silver-Brains, Belgium
- Ted M. Kahn, CEO, DesignWorlds for Learning, USA
- David Kalisz, Head of Department , Management & Strategy, Paris School of Business, France
- Nikolaos Kastrinos, (signed in personal capacity) Foresight Team Leader, DG Research & Innovation, European Commission, Belgium
- Charlotte Kemp, Vice President, Global Speakers Federation, South Africa
- Stephen Killelea, Founder & Executive Chairman, Institute for Economics and Peace, Australia
- Tony Kim, President, Future Design Lab, South Korea
- Yusuke Kishita, Associate Professor, University of Tokyo, Japan
- Eric Klien, President, Lifeboat Foundation, USA
- Dana Klisanin, CEO, Evolutionary Guidance Media R&D, USA
- Norbert Kołos, Managing Partner, 4CF, Poland
- Tamás Kristóf, Associate Professor, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
- Martin Kruse, Senior Executive Advisor & Futurist, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, Denmark
- Osmo Kuusi, Adjunct Professor, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland
- Annah Kyoya, CEO, Leadership Impressions Ltd, Kenya
- Mounir Labib, Academy of Scientific Research & Technology, Egypt
- Patricio Leiva Lavalle, Dir. Latin American Inst. of Intl Relations, Miguel de Cervantes Univ., Chile
- Gerd Leonhard, CEO, The Futures Agency, Zurich, Switzerland
- Tiziano Li Piani, R&D Engineer, Leonardo Labs, Italy
- Marilyn Lienbrenz-Himes, Assoc. Prof. Emeritus , George Washington University, USA
- Lt-Gen Naeem Khalid Lodhi, Former Secretary of Defence, Pakistan
- Thomas Lombardo, Director, Center for Future Consciousness, USA
- José A. LugoSantiago, Chief Futurist, Institute for Leadership & Strategic Foresight, USA
- Pavel Luksha, Founder, Global Education Futures, Russia
- Patricia Lustig, Chief Executive, LASA Insight Ltd, UK
- François Mabille, General Secretary, International Federation of Catholic Universities, France
- Luciano Rodrigues Marcelino, Director General, Interinstitutional Relations, DGRI, Private Technical University of Loja – UTPL, Ecuador
- Carlos Alonso von Marschall Murillo, Head, Prospective Analysis and Public Policy, Min. of Planning and Political Economy, Costa Rica
- Jorge Máttar, Executive Director, Centro Tepoztlán Víctor L. Urquidi, Mexico
- Philip McMaster, Co-Founder, World Sustainability Coop, China
- John F. Meagher, Consultant, Futurist/Occupational and Environmental Health, USA
- Ricardo Torres Medrano, Professor, Catholic University of La Plata, Argentina
- Alvaro Mendez, Co-Dir. Global South Unit, London School of Economics, United Kingdom
- Maria Mezentseva, Member of Parliament, Chair of Ukrainian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Ukraine
- Alvaro Cedeño, Molinari, Former Ambassador in Geneva, Costa Rica
- Cesar Monsalve Rico, Consultant, Development and Innovation Professional, Colombia
- Caryl Monte, CEO, International Wisdom Academy, Curaçao
- Iván Alonso, Montoya-Restrepo, Professor, National University of Colombia, Colombia
- Luz Alexandra Montoya-Restrepo, Professor, National University of Colombia, Colombia
- Juan Carlos Mora Montero, Professor of Planning & Foresight, National University, Costa Rica
- Morne Mostert, Director, Inst. for Futures Research, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
- Victor V. Motti, Director, World Futures Studies Federation, USA
- Leopold P. Mureithi, Professor of Economics, University of Nairobi, Kenya
- Eric Noël, Founder, Canada Towards 2030, Canada
- Kacper Nosarzewski, Partner, 4CF, Poland
- Pavel Nováček, Head Development & Environmental Studies, Palacký University, Czech Republic
- Erzsébet Nováky, Professor Emeritus, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
- Concepcion Olavarrieta Rodriguez, Pres. Nodo Mexicano. El Proyecto del Milenio; Exec-Sec, RIBER, Mexico
- Erick Øverland, President, World Futures Studies Federation, Norway
- Karla Paniagua Ramírez, Head of Futures Studies, Center of Design and Communication, Mexico
- Ioan Mircea Pașcu, Former V.P., European Parliament; Former Minister of Defence of Romania, Romania
- Robert A., Pavlik, Futures/Environmental Studies, Marquette University, USA
- Martha Beatriz Peluffo Argón, Dean, Faculty of Education Sciences, Universidad de la Empresa, Uruguay
- Charles Perrottet, Principal, Futures Strategy Group, USA
- Jahna Perricone, Director of Mindfulness Programs, Center for Conscious Creativity, USA
- Jeremy Pesner, Doctoral Student, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
- Adrian Pop, Professor, National University of Political Science and Public Administration, Romania
- Mila Popovich, Founder, EVOLbing leadership, USA & Montenegro
- Patty Rangel, Author, International Astronautical Congress, Australia & Germany
- Kristian Ravić, Advisor, Office of the Mayor of Zagreb, Croatia
- Andrew W. Reynolds, Adjunct Professor, University of Virginia and DOS (ret.), USA
- Álvaro Ramírez Restrepo, Director, Futurion Ltda, Colombia
- Roman Retzbach, CEO, FutureInstitute Zukunftsinstitut, Germany
- Saphia Richou, Chercheur au LAREQUOI, Conseil en Prospective Stratégique et Coopétition, France
- Xiaobing Rong, Deputy Secretary General, UN international collaboration & coordination agency, China
- Stuart Russell, Center for Human Compatible Artificial Intelligence, University of California, USA
- Torben Riise, CEO, ExecuTeam; Founder, Institute for Futures Studies, Copenhagen, USA
- Clarissa Rios Rojas, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge, UK
- Stanley G. Rosen, Consultant, Strategy Analyst, USA
- Rebecca Ryan, Founder, CEO, NEXT Generation Consulting, USA
- Paul Saffo, Professor, Stanford University, USA
- Óscar Arias Sánchez, Former President of Costa Rica (1986-1990, 2006-2010), Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Costa Rica
- Rocco Santoro, Senior Statistician, Daccude, Italy
- Ramón Santoyo, President, WFS Mexican Chapter, Mexico
- Carlos Alberto Sarti Castañeda, Director, Fundación Propaz, Guatemala
- John M. Schmidt, Founder, CANSYNTH, Australia
- Kamal Zaky Mahmoud Shaeer, Chair, Council of Futures Studies and Risk Management, Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, Egypt
- Yair Sharan, Director, FIRS2T, Israel
- Mario Silberman, Former Ambassador, CTA, UNIDO/UNDP, Chile
- Mihaly , Simai, Former Chairman, United Nations University, Hungary
- Alexandra Sokol, Chief Sustainability Officer, EnviroDynamix, Santa Monica, CA, USA
- Roger Spitz, Founder, Disruptive Futures Institute, USA
- Maarten Steinbuch, Professor, Technical Univ. Eindhoven, Netherlands
- Veerappan Swaminathan, Founder & CEO, Sustainable Living Lab Pte Ltd, Singapore
- David Tal, President, Quantumrun Foresight, Canada
- Amos Taylor, Project Researcher, Finland Futures Research Center, Finland
- Rohit Talwar, CEO, Fast Future, UK
- Sadia Tariq, Research Associate, Sanjan Nagar Institute of Philosophy and Arts, Pakistan
- Paul Tero, Principal Consultant, Dellium Advisory, Australia
- Mohan Tikku, Journalist, Author, Futurist, Former Senior Fellow, Indian Council of Soc. Sci. Res., India
- Nicoleta Topoleanu, Human Resources Coach and Consultant, Romania
- Peter VanderWel, Principal Futurist, FutureVision, Netherlands
- Koen Vegter, Founder, Might Futures Design, Netherlands
- Sanja Vlahovic, Former Amb. of Montenegro to Italy, Malta and UN organizations in Rome, Montenegro
- Paul Werbos, Program Director(ret.), National Science Foundation, USA
- Jeremy Wilken, Broadcaster, Design for Voice podcast, USA
- Wilson Wong, Head of Insight & Futures, Horizon Scanning UK, UK
- Peter P Yim, CEO (retired), CIM3, Hong Kong & USA
- Jesús E. Caldera Ynfante, Dir., Intl and Interinstitutional Relations, La Gran Colombia University, Colombia
- Amy Zalman, CEO, Prescient, USA
- Xialin Zhang, Secretary-General, Intl. Cooperation Center for Future Strategic Research, China
- Duoyin Zhou, Deputy Director, UN International Collaboration &Coordination Agency, China
- Ibon Zugasti Gorostidi, Director, Prospektiker, Spain