Fifty Nobel laureates: This simple proposal for humankind could deliver a $1 trillion peace dividend

World military spending has doubled since 2000. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, it is approaching 2 trillion US dollars per year and is increasing in all regions of the world.

Individual governments are under pressure to increase military spending because others do so. The feedback mechanism sustains a spiralling arms race—a colossal waste of resources that could be used far more wisely. Past arms races have often had the same outcome: deadly and destructive conflicts.

We have a simple proposal for humankind: that the governments of all UN member states negotiate a joint reduction of their military expenditure by 2 per cent every year, for five years.

The rationale for the proposal is simple:

• Adversary nations will reduce military spending, so the security of each country is increased, while deterrence and balance are preserved.
• The agreement contributes to reducing animosity, thereby decreasing the risk of war.
• Vast resources are made available: a “peace dividend” of as much as $1 trillion by 2030. 

Half of the resources freed up by this agreement would be allocated to a global fund, under UN supervision, to address humanity’s grave common problems: pandemics, climate change and extreme poverty.

The other half would remain at the disposal of individual governments. All countries will therefore have significant new resources. Some of these can be used to finance and redirect the strong research capacities of military industries towards urgently needed peaceful applications. 

History shows that agreements to limit the proliferation of weapons are achievable: thanks to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and Strategic Arms Reducation treaties, the United States and the Soviet Union have reduced their nuclear arsenals by 90 per cent since the 1980s. Such negotiations can succeed because they are rational: each actor benefits from its adversaries’ armaments reduction, and so does humanity as a whole.

Humankind faces risks that can only be averted through cooperation.

Let us cooperate, instead of fighting.

Signatories:

1. Hiroshi Amano (Nobel Physics),
2. Peter Agre (Nobel Chemistry), 
3. David Baltimore (Nobel Medicine), 
4. Barry C Barish (Nobel Physics),  
5. Steven Chu (Nobel Physics), 
6. Robert F Curl Jr (Nobel Chemistry),
7. Johann Deisenhofer (Nobel Chemistry), 
8. Jacques Dubochet (Nobel Chemistry), 
9. Gerhard Ertl (Nobel Chemistry), 
10. Joachim Frank (Nobel Chemistry),  
11. Andre K Geim (Nobel Physics), 
12. Sheldon L Glashow (Nobel Physics), 
13. Carol Greider (Nobel Medicine), 
14. Harald zur Hausen (Nobel Medicine), 
15. Dudley R Herschbach (Nobel Chemistry), 
16. Avram Hershko (Nobel Chemistry),  
17. Roald Hoffmann (Nobel Chemistry), 
18. Robert Huber (Nobel Chemistry), 
19. Louis J Ignarro (Nobel Medicine),  
20. Brian Josephson (Nobel Physics), 
21. Takaaki Kajita (Nobel Physics),  
22. Tawakkol Karman (Nobel Peace), 
23. Brian K Kobilka (Nobel Chemistry), 
24. Roger D Kornberg (Nobel Chemistry), 
25. Yuan T Lee (Nobel Chemistry), 
26. John C Mather (Nobel Physics), 
27. Eric S Maskin (Nobel Economics),  
28. May-Britt Moser (Nobel Medicine),  
29. Edvard I Moser (Nobel Medicine),  
30. Erwin Neher (Nobel Medicine),
31. Paul Nurse (Nobel Medicine and Past President Royal Society),  
32. Giorgio Parisi (Nobel Physics), 
33. Jim Peebles (Nobel Physics),  
34. Roger Penrose (Nobel Physics), 
35. Edmund S Phelps (Nobel Economics), 
36. John C Polanyi (Nobel Chemistry), 
37. H David Politzer (Nobel Physics), 
38. Venki Ramakrishnan (Nobel Chemistry and Past President of the Royal Society), 
39. Peter Ratcliffe (Nobel Medicine), 
40. Richard J Roberts (Nobel Medicine), 
41. Michael Rosbash (Nobel Medicine),  
42. Carlo Rubbia (Nobel Physics), 
43. Randy W Schekman (Nobel Medicine), 
44. Gregg Semenza (Nobel Medicine),  
45. Robert J Shiller (Nobel Economics), 
46. Stephen Smale (Fields Medal), 
47. Fraser Stoddart (Nobel Chemistry), 
48. Horst L Störmer (Nobel Physics), 
49. Thomas C Südhof (Nobel Medicine), 
50. Jack W Szostak (Nobel Medicine), 
51. Olga Tokarczuk (Nobel Literature), 
52. Srinivasa S R Varadhan (Abel Prize), 
53. John E Walker (Nobel Chemistry),  
54. Torsten Wiesel (Nobel Medicine), 
55. Mohamed HA Hassan (President of The World Academy of Sciences), 
56. Annibale Mottana (Presidente Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL), 
57. Roberto Antonelli (Presidente Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei),  
58. Patrick Flandrin (President French Académie des Sciences),  
59. Anton Zeilinger (President Austrian Academy of Sciences), 
60. Carlo Rovelli and Matteo Smerlak, organisers. 

His Holiness the Dalai Lama (Nobel Peace) has expressed appreciation of and support for the initiative.