Approving this! Nuno called this out as one of the projects he was most excited to fund in his regrantor app, and I'm happy to see him commit to this.
We want to advance four lines of work related to improving global risk management.
First, we want to promote the report we co-wrote with ALLFED on Food Security during Abrupt Sun Reducing Scenarios (ASRS) among policymakers. We are writing a chapter on ASRS for the National Risk Management Plan 2024-2030 of Argentina.
Second, we want to promote our report on improving the implementation of the EU AI Act in the European sandbox in Spain and connect regulators in the sandbox to auditing experts such as ARC Evals and Apollo.
Third, we want to promote our report on biological surveillance in Guatemala, highlighting some cost-effective opportunities for engagement such as news surveillance. We also seek to improve our map of BSL laboratories in Latin America with information provided by the community.
Fourth, we want to write a report on improving risk management in Latin America from the perspective of GCRs. This ties in with our previous work on risk management in Spain, and would focus on the use of cost-benefit analyses as a tool for risk prioritization and analysis.
For each of our projects, the goal is to advance the creation of relevant policy and connect policy-makers to relevant experts. We will know we are succeeding in a given project if our reports are used as support material for drafting policies or if we are credited with connecting policy-makers and relevant experts.
SPECIFIC PROJECT GOALS:
FOOD SECURITY
Goal: The Argentinian government invests in assessment reports and planning guidance to improve the chances of an adequate response to nuclear winter
How we know we achieved it: report on response strategies incorporated into governmental agencies, the government includes the recommendations in the national five-year risk management plan. (In fact, we are working on a chapter for the 2024-2030 plan).
AI
Goal: Incorporate critical policy recommendations contained in the attached report such as external auditing and red-teaming into Spanish AI legislation, ideally influencing other countries inside Europe via the AI sandbox or even outside Europe through the Brussels effect.
How we know we achieved it: The government promotes the amendments based on our proposals to the EU AI Act inside the European Parliament.
BIORISK
Goal: Incorporate policy recommendations in the National Epidemiological Surveillance System (SINAVE) of the Guatemala government.
How we know we achieved it: The health ministry and other government offices promote the modification of the manuals and procedures of SINAVE.
Improving Risk management
Goal: Promote the improvement of risk management plans at the Latin American level from the perspective of GCR.
How we know we achieved it: with the integration in the discussion of GCR terminology and the improvement in ECLAC's risk management indicators.
Concept
Percent
Wages
65%
Conferences and travel
4.2%
Other operational expenses (People Operations, Workshop expenses & Miscellaneous)
16.4%
Margin of operations
8.4%
Fiscal sponsorship fee
6%
Our staff is made up of a project coordinator, 3 policy transfer officers, a scientific diplomat, an operations manager, 2 research affiliates, and a network of experts. Our interim director Jaime Sevilla is also director of Epoch, and Director board member Juan García works as a research manager at ALLFED. Between them, they have ample experience with management, founding organizations, and GCR policy. We also have a close relationship with ALLFED, the Simon Institute, and CSER (Centre for the Study of Existential Risk).
Here are some relevant past outputs of the organization:
An investigation of risk management in Spain culminated in a collaboration agreement with Madrid’s city hall.
A report on Food Security in Argentina in the event of an Abrupt Sunlight Reduction Scenario (ASRS). We are currently writing a chapter on ASRS for the National Risk Management Plan 2024-2030 of Argentina.
A Report on AI regulation for the EU AI Act Spanish sandbox. We have published two excerpts as standalone articles: 1) Proposals for the AI regulatory sandbox in Spain, and 2) a Survey of specific risks derived from artificial intelligence.
A report on biological surveillance in Guatemala. and a map of BSL laboratories in Latin America.
Some other minor outputs include an article about the new US GCR law, and the co-drafting with the Simon Institute of two responses to the policy briefs from the UN’s Our Common Agenda. Also published infographics of the previous reports.
Overall, our website sports the largest collection online of GCR articles in Spanish, with over 50,000 visits.
We could be crowding out other efforts from more trustworthy sources, though we consider this unlikely and we are committed to collaborating with complementary efforts.
Some of our policy recommendations might be harmful and hard to correct. We are however erring towards recommendations with broad support and backed up by other experts in the GCR community, which should diminish the chances. We also focus more on creating connections and facilitating infrastructure for evidence-based decision-making than on pursuing specific agendas.
We are currently operating through a grant from Effective Venture’s donor lottery, a small grant from Nonlinear and other individual donations.
Austin Chen
2 months ago
Approving this! Nuno called this out as one of the projects he was most excited to fund in his regrantor app, and I'm happy to see him commit to this.
Nuño Sempere
2 months ago
I think that RCG's object-level work is somewhat valuable, and also that they could greatly contribute to making the Spanish and Latin-American EA community become stronger. I think one could make an argument that this doesn't exceed some funding bar, but ultimately it doesn't go through.
Jorge Andrés Torres Celis
2 months ago
Thank you very much Nuño for your contribution, we hope to continue improving the prioritization and management of GCRs in Spanish-speaking countries and we will be in contact to update you with promising advances in our work.