A senior United Nations official has warned the world is 'playing with fire' unless an agreement can be reached on climate change at an international summit.
Christiana Figueres, climate chief, said that 'science is telling us that time is running out' and an upcoming conference in Paris could be the last chance for a meaningful agreement.
Figueres is deep into preparations for trying to broker a landmark global climate deal with more than 190 nations in December.
She told The Associated Press on Wednesday that with another decade of dawdling 'we are going to be playing with fire.'
It is reported that the Sea levels could rise by.....
as much as 10 feet in the next 50 years due to 'highly dangerous' global warming, a leading climate scientist has warned.
Dr James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, and 16 other researchers are preparing to publish new projections for how the oceans may respond to climate change.
They warn an increase in average global temperatures of just 1°C could result in dramatic changes in sea level and an increase in powerful storms.
They conclude that 2°C of warming – the international target for limiting global warming – will be 'highly dangerous' to humanity.
The study warns that glaciers in Greenland and the Antarctic could melt 10 times faster than projections put forward by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which predicted sea levels would rise by around one metre (three feet) by the end of the century.
The scientists said: 'Social disruption and economic consequences of such large sea level rise could be devastating.
'It is not difficult to imagine that conflicts arising from forced migrations and economic collapse might make the planet ungovernable, threatening the fabric of civilization.'
Dr Hansen, who was Nasa's lead climate scientist until 2013 when he retired and now holds a post with Columbia University's Earth Institute, has described the paper as his most important to date.
Dr Hansen was one of the first scientists to publicly highlight the risk of global warming during evidence he gave to the US congress in 1988.
He said he now plans to take the results of the latest study to policymakers in an attempt to make them realise the importance of taking action to curb climate change.
Last year the UN's IPCC warned world leaders they need to restrict global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial targets by cutting carbon emissions.
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