London, Jan 04: A NASA scientist has warned that pollution has increased to such an extent, that unless drastic cuts are made within the next decade, it will become difficult for mankind to reverse the effects of global warming.

Jim Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, said the situation could come to such a pass that the Arctic would be left with no ice at all. In other words, huge rise in sea levels and extinction of many species, he said.

"Half the people in the world live within 15 miles of a coastline. A large fraction of the major cities are on coastlines. Once you get the process started and well on the way, it`s impossible to prevent it. That`s why we need to address the issue before it gets out of control. We just cannot burn all the fossil fuels in the ground," The Mirror quoted him as saying.

"If we do, we will end up with a planet with no ice in the Arctic and where warming is so large that it`s going to have a large effect in terms of sea level rises and the extinction of species. If we go another 10 years, by 2015, at the current rate of growth of CO2 emissions, the emissions in 2015 will be 35 per cent larger than they were in 2000," he said.

"But if we want to get on a scenario that keeps global temperature in the range that it has been in for the last million years, we would need to decrease the emissions by something of the order of 25 per cent," he added.

Britain`s chief scientist, Sir David King, also said, "We need to remember: Action is affordable, inaction is not. Only heads of state working together can provide the new level of global leadership we need."

Bureau Report