The open letter to UN Secretary General António Guterres has 202 signatories (below). Please share the letter with press, social media, and your networks. Also you can share the Press Release below or use this link.
 
We are in conversation with several countries to introduce the resolution for a feasibility study of the proposed UN Office of Strategic Threats in the UN General Assembly, but there are no confirmations yet. If you receive interest from your country to offer the resolution, please let me know at: Jerome.Glenn@Millennium-Project.org with a copy to Héctor Casanueva Millennium Project Org. hcasanueva.millenniumproject@gmail.com and Elizabeth Florescu elizabeth@millennium-project.org so that we can properly coordinate. Here's the Press Release:
 
 

202 Leaders Call for New UN Office to Coordinate Global Research to Prevent Human Extinction 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.
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WASHINGTON, September 8, 2021 (Newswire.com) - 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.

---------------------Letter:

Mr. Antonio Guterres
Secretary-General
United Nations
 
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.

 

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,
Jerome C. Glenn, CEO
The Millennium Project

 
Erick Øverland, President
World Futures Studies Federation

 
Shermon Cruz, Chair 
Association of Professional Futurists 

 
list of signatories with their affiliation, title, and country:

1. Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, Author, Geostrategist, Former Dir. of Foreign Policy & Security Think Tank, Sri Lanka
2. Nancy Ellen Abrams, Author, Philosopher of Science, Attorney at Law, USA
3. Sergio Abreu, Secretary General, Latin American Integration Association (ALADI), Uruguay
4. Philip Omoniyi Adetiloye, Professor, Federal University of Agriculture, Nigeria
5. Rosa Alegria, Representative, Teach the Future Brazil, Brazil
6. Soledad, Alvear, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Former Senator, Chile
7. Jan Amkreutz, Author, futurist, speaker, The Netherlands & USA
8. Janna Q. Anderson, Executive Director, Imagining the Internet Center, Elon University, USA
9. Yul Anderson, President, African American Future Society, USA
10. Amara D. Angelica, Editor-at-Large, KurzweilAI, USA
11. Shahar Avin, Senior Research Associate, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk University of Cambridge, UK
12. Diana Baciuna, Local Councillor, Bucharest Borough 4, Romania
13. Guillermina Baena Paz, VP Latin America WFSF, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico
14. Ying Bai, Vice President, Academy of Soft Technology, China
15. SJ  Beard, Academic Programme Manager, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk Cambridge, UK
16. Clem Bezold, Co-Founder, Institute for Alternative Futures, USA
17. James Boyd, Complex Systems, SingularityNet, USA
18. Pedro Bretes Amador, CEO and Co-Founder, NewWay, Foresight, Portugal
19. Gregory Brown, Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University, Senior Analyst, CENTRA Technology, USA
20. Steve Brown, Founder, The Futures Collaborative, USA
21. James E. Burke, Foresight and Solutions Navigator, DeepDive Foresight, USA
22. Iurie Calestru, Program Director, Institute for Development and Expertise of Projects, Moldova
23. Franklin A. Carrero-Martinez, Sr. Dir. Global Sustainability, National Academy of Sciences, Eng., and Med., USA
24. Hector Casanueva, VP Chilean Council of Foresight and Strategy, Former Amb. Geneva, Prof.-Res. University of Alcalá, Chile & Spain
25. Shiela R. Castillo, Futures Learning Advisor, The Center For Engaged Foresight, Philippines
26. Vint Cerf, Internet Pioneer, Google, USA
27. Sadok Chaabane, Former Min. of Justice & Higher Educ., GM, Polytechnique Internationale University, Tunisia
28. Richard J. Chasdi, Professorial Lecturer, George Washington University, USA
29. Puruesh Chaudhary, Founder &President , AGAHI, Pakistan
30. Marvin Cheung, Board Member, Unbuilt Labs, USA
31. Thomas J. Christiffel, Principal, Regional Intelligence-Regional Communities, USA
32. Epaminondas Christophilopoulos, Deputy Chair Foresight Team, Office of the President of  Greece, Greece
33. Reynaldo Treviño, Cisneros, Consultant, Systems and Strategic Planning, Mexico
34. Anthony Clayton, Professor, University of West Indies, Jamaica
35. Deborah Clifford, Head of Finance, Woolworths, South Africa
36. Jose Cordeiro, Executive Director, Ibero-American Foresight Network, Venezuela and Spain
37. Raluca Coscodaru, Consultant/Professor, Innovation and entrepreneurship, Romania
38. Catherine, Cosgrove, Futurist, Canada
39. William Cosgrove, Former Vice President, World Bank, Canada
40. Shermon Cruz, Executive Director, Center for Engaged Foresight, Philippines
41. Cornelia Daheim, Founder & Dir. Future Impacts; Chair, Futures Circle, Min. of Educ. and Res., Germany
42. Jim Dator, Professor Emeritus, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Hawaii
43. Philippe Destatte, Director, Destree Institute, Belgium
44. Mara Di Berardo, Technologist, Institute Nanoscience of the National Research Council , Italy
45. Simone Di Zio, Associate Professor, University G. d’Annunzio, Italy
46. Pedro Miguel Diegues, Consultant, Foresight & Strategy, Portugal
47. Peachie Dioquino-Valera, Advisor, Center for Engaged Foresight, Philippines
48. Hugh T. Dugan, Former Special Assistant to the President, National Security Council, USA
49. Paul Epping, Chairman, Xponential, The Netherlands
50.  Jelel Ezzine, President, Tunisian Association for the Advancement of ST&I (TAASTI), Tunisia
51. Daniel Faggella, CEO, Emerj Artificial Intelligence Research, USA
52. Horacio Martin Ferber, Faculty, National University of Avellaneda, Argentina
53. Elizabeth Florescu, Director of Research, The Millennium Project, Canada
54. Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, Former President of Chile, Chile
55. Michael Friebe, Prof. Health Tech., Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
56. Caroline Figuères, Former Director, International Inst. for Com. and Dev.(IICD), The Netherlands
57. Luciano Gallón, Professor, Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Colombia
58. Adolfo Arreola García, Professor, Anáhuac University, Mexico
59. Banning Garrett, Faculty, Singularity University, USA
60. Lydia Garrido Luzardo, UNESCO Chair Anticipation and Resilience, SARAS Institute, Uruguay
61. Jose María Gil Robles, Former President , European Parliament, Spain
62. Fausto Carbajal Glass, Member, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)., Mexico
63. Jerome C. Glenn, CEO, The Millennium Project, USA
64. Willis Goldbeck, Founder, Foresight Education, USA
65. Blaž Golob, CEO GFS Institute, Chair, Forum on Future of Europe, Slovenia
66. Abhik Gupta, Vice-Chairperson, Tripura State Higher Education Council, India
67. Antonio Gutelli, Docente, Juan A. Maza University, Argentina
68. Miguel Angel Gutierrez, Director, Centro Latinomericano de Globalización y Prospectiva, Argentina
69. Mohammad Habib, Partner, Director, MENA Region, Siegel® MCAN, Jordan
70. Cathy Hackl, Chief Metaverse Officer, Futures Intelligence Group, USA
71. William E. Halal, CEO, TechCast International, USA
72. Aharon Hauptman, Fellow, Zvi Meitar Institute for Implications of Emerging Technologies, Israel
73. Peter Hayward, Co-host, Futurepod.org, Australia
74. Sirkka Heinonen, Professor Emeriti, Finland Futures Research Centre, Finland
75. Lucio Mauricio Henao Vélez, CEO, Prospectiva.org, Colombia
76. Éva Hideg, Professor, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
77. Brock Hinzmann, Partner, Business Futures Network, USA
78. Cyrus Hodes, Chair AI Initiative, The Future Society, France
79. Razvan, Hoinaru, Former Chief of Staff, EPP Romanian Delegation, EU Parliament, Romania
80. Philip Horvath, Partner, Luman, Germany
81. Adriana Hoyos, Professor/Senior Fellow, Instituto de Empresa (IE) Harvard University, Spain & USA
82. Arnoldo de Hoyos, Professor, Pontificial Catholic University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
83. Claudio Huepe, Director, Center of Sustainable Energy, Universidad Diego Portales, Chile
84. Barry B. Hughes, Professor, University of Denver, USA
85. Jan Hurwitch, Director, Visionary Ethics Foundation, Costa Rica
86. Asif Iftikhar, Teaching Fellow, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan
87. Enrique V. Iglesias, Former President, Intern-American Development Bank, Uruguay
88. Lester Ingber, CEO, Physical Studies Institute LLC, USA
89. Jose Miguel Insulza, former Secretary General, Organization of American States (OAS), Chile
90. Silvia Iratchet, Institutional Relations, Suma Veritas Foundation, Argentina
91. Abulgasem Issa, Associate Professor, Libyan Authority for Scientific Researches, Libya
92. Garry Jacobs, President & CEO, World Academy of Art and Science, India
93. Maciej Jagaciak, Member of the Board, Polish Society for Futures Studies, Poland
94. Alejandro Jara, Former Associate DG WTO Geneva, Former Ambassador, Chile
95. Robert E. Jarrett, Senior Fellow (ret.), US Army Environmental Policy Institute, USA
96. Weiquing Jiang, Chairman, UN Ethics Chinese Union, China
97. Zhouying Jin, Prof. and Former Director, Center for Technology Innovation and Strategy, Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China
98. 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
99.  Christopher B. Jones, Faculty, Walden University, USA
100.  Michel Judkiewicz, Managing Director, Silver-Brains, Belgium
101. Ted M. Kahn, CEO, DesignWorlds for Learning, USA
102. David Kalisz, Head of Department , Management & Strategy, Paris School of Business, France
103. Nikolaos Kastrinos, (signed in personal capacity) Foresight Team Leader, DG Research & Innovation, European Commission, Belgium
104. Charlotte Kemp, Vice President, Global Speakers Federation, South Africa
105. Stephen Killelea, Founder & Executive Chairman, Institute for Economics and Peace, Australia
106. Tony Kim, President, Future Design Lab, South Korea
107. Yusuke Kishita, Associate Professor, University of Tokyo, Japan
108. Eric Klien, President, Lifeboat Foundation, USA
109. Dana Klisanin, CEO, Evolutionary Guidance Media R&D, USA
110. Norbert Kołos, Managing Partner, 4CF, Poland
111. Tamás Kristóf, Associate Professor, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
112. Martin Kruse, Senior Executive Advisor & Futurist, Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, Denmark
113. Osmo Kuusi, Adjunct Professor, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland
114. Annah Kyoya, CEO, Leadership Impressions Ltd, Kenya
115. Mounir Labib, Academy of Scientific Research & Technology, Egypt
116. Patricio Leiva Lavalle, Dir. Latin American Inst. of Intl Relations, Miguel de Cervantes Univ., Chile
117. Gerd Leonhard, CEO, The Futures Agency, Zurich, Switzerland
118. Tiziano Li Piani, R&D Engineer, Leonardo Labs, Italy
119. Marilyn Lienbrenz-Himes, Assoc. Prof. Emeritus , George Washington University, USA
120. Lt-Gen Naeem Khalid Lodhi, Former Secretary of Defence, Pakistan
121. Thomas Lombardo, Director, Center for Future Consciousness, USA
122. José A. LugoSantiago, Chief Futurist, Institute for Leadership & Strategic Foresight, USA
123. Pavel Luksha, Founder, Global Education Futures, Russia
124. Patricia Lustig, Chief Executive, LASA Insight Ltd, UK
125. François Mabille, General Secretary, International Federation of Catholic Universities, France
126. Luciano Rodrigues Marcelino, Director General, Interinstitutional Relations, DGRI, Private Technical University of Loja - UTPL, Ecuador
127. Carlos Alonso von Marschall Murillo, Head, Prospective Analysis and Public Policy, Min. of Planning and Political Economy, Costa Rica
128. Jorge Máttar, Executive Director, Centro Tepoztlán Víctor L. Urquidi, Mexico
129. Philip McMaster, Co-Founder, World Sustainability Coop, China
130. John F. Meagher, Consultant, Futurist/Occupational and Environmental Health, USA
131. Ricardo Torres Medrano, Professor, Catholic University of La Plata, Argentina
132. Alvaro Mendez, Co-Dir. Global South Unit, London School of Economics, United Kingdom
133. Maria Mezentseva, Member of Parliament, Chair of Ukrainian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Ukraine
134. Alvaro Cedeño, Molinari, Former Ambassador in Geneva, Costa Rica
135. Cesar Monsalve Rico, Consultant, Development and Innovation Professional, Colombia
136. Caryl Monte, CEO, International Wisdom Academy, Curaçao
137. Iván Alonso, Montoya-Restrepo, Professor, National University of Colombia, Colombia
138. Luz Alexandra Montoya-Restrepo, Professor, National University of Colombia, Colombia
139. Juan Carlos Mora Montero, Professor of Planning & Foresight, National University, Costa Rica
140. Morne Mostert, Director, Inst. for Futures Research, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
141. Victor V. Motti, Director, World Futures Studies Federation, USA
142. Leopold P. Mureithi, Professor of Economics, University of Nairobi, Kenya
143. Eric Noël, Founder, Canada Towards 2030, Canada
144. Kacper Nosarzewski, Partner, 4CF, Poland
145. Pavel Nováček, Head Development & Environmental Studies, Palacký University, Czech Republic
146. Erzsébet Nováky, Professor Emeritus, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary
147. Concepcion Olavarrieta Rodriguez, Pres. Nodo Mexicano. El Proyecto del Milenio; Exec-Sec, RIBER, Mexico
148. Erick Øverland, President, World Futures Studies Federation, Norway
149. Karla Paniagua Ramírez, Head of Futures Studies, Center of Design and Communication, Mexico
150. Ioan Mircea Pașcu, Former V.P., European Parliament; Former Minister of Defence of Romania, Romania
151. Robert A., Pavlik, Futures/Environmental Studies, Marquette University, USA
152. Martha Beatriz Peluffo Argón, Dean, Faculty of Education Sciences, Universidad de la Empresa, Uruguay
153. Charles Perrottet, Principal, Futures Strategy Group, USA
154. Jahna Perricone, Director of Mindfulness Programs, Center for Conscious Creativity, USA
155. Jeremy Pesner, Doctoral Student, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
156. Adrian Pop, Professor, National University of Political Science and Public Administration, Romania
157. Mila Popovich, Founder, EVOLbing leadership, USA & Montenegro
158. Patty Rangel, Author, International Astronautical Congress, Australia & Germany
159. Kristian Ravić, Advisor, Office of the Mayor of Zagreb, Croatia
160. Andrew W. Reynolds, Adjunct Professor, University of Virginia and DOS (ret.), USA
161. Álvaro Ramírez Restrepo, Director, Futurion Ltda, Colombia
162. Roman Retzbach, CEO, FutureInstitute Zukunftsinstitut, Germany
163. Saphia Richou, Chercheur au LAREQUOI, Conseil en Prospective Stratégique et Coopétition, France
164. Xiaobing Rong, Deputy Secretary General, UN international collaboration & coordination agency, China
165. Stuart Russell, Center for Human Compatible Artificial Intelligence, University of California, USA
166. Torben Riise, CEO, ExecuTeam; Founder, Institute for Futures Studies, Copenhagen, USA
167. Clarissa Rios Rojas, Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, University of Cambridge, UK
168. Stanley G. Rosen, Consultant, Strategy Analyst, USA
169. Rebecca Ryan, Founder, CEO, NEXT Generation Consulting, USA
170. Paul Saffo, Professor, Stanford University, USA
171. Óscar Arias Sánchez, Former President of Costa Rica (1986-1990, 2006-2010), Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Costa Rica
172. Rocco Santoro, Senior Statistician, Daccude, Italy
173. Ramón Santoyo, President, WFS Mexican Chapter, Mexico
174. Carlos Alberto Sarti Castañeda, Director, Fundación Propaz, Guatemala
175. John M. Schmidt, Founder, CANSYNTH, Australia
176. Kamal Zaky Mahmoud Shaeer, Chair, Council of Futures Studies and Risk Management, Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, Egypt
177. Yair Sharan, Director, FIRS2T, Israel
178. Mario Silberman, Former Ambassador, CTA, UNIDO/UNDP, Chile
179. Mihaly , Simai, Former Chairman, United Nations University, Hungary
180. Alexandra Sokol, Chief Sustainability Officer, EnviroDynamix, Santa Monica, CA, USA
181. Roger Spitz, Founder, Disruptive Futures Institute, USA
182. Maarten Steinbuch, Professor, Technical Univ. Eindhoven, Netherlands
183. Veerappan Swaminathan, Founder & CEO, Sustainable Living Lab Pte Ltd, Singapore
184. David Tal, President, Quantumrun Foresight, Canada
185. Amos Taylor, Project Researcher, Finland Futures Research Center, Finland
186. Rohit Talwar, CEO, Fast Future, UK
187. Sadia Tariq, Research Associate, Sanjan Nagar Institute of Philosophy and Arts, Pakistan
188. Paul Tero, Principal Consultant, Dellium Advisory, Australia
189. Mohan Tikku, Journalist, Author, Futurist, Former Senior Fellow, Indian Council of Soc. Sci. Res., India
190. Nicoleta Topoleanu, Human Resources Coach and Consultant, Romania
191. Peter VanderWel, Principal Futurist, FutureVision, Netherlands
192. Koen Vegter, Founder, Might Futures Design, Netherlands
193. Sanja Vlahovic, Former Amb. of Montenegro to Italy, Malta and UN organizations in Rome, Montenegro
194. Paul Werbos, Program Director(ret.), National Science Foundation, USA
195. Jeremy Wilken, Broadcaster, Design for Voice podcast, USA
196. Wilson Wong, Head of Insight & Futures, Horizon Scanning UK, UK
197. Peter P Yim, CEO (retired), CIM3, Hong Kong & USA
198. Jesús E. Caldera Ynfante, Dir., Intl and Interinstitutional Relations, La Gran Colombia University, Colombia
199. Amy Zalman, CEO, Prescient, USA
200. Xialin Zhang, Secretary-General, Intl. Cooperation Center for Future Strategic Research, China
201. Duoyin Zhou, Deputy Director, UN International Collaboration &Coordination Agency, China
202. Ibon Zugasti Gorostidi, Director, Prospektiker, Spain