Comparing the threat of climate change with that of nuclear war, a group of over 30 Nobel laureates have called upon the nations of the world to take decisive action to limit future global emissions.
"So far we have avoided nuclear war though the threat remains. We believe that our world today faces another threat of comparable magnitude," said the Nobel laureates who signed a declaration on climate change to mark the final day of the 65th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Mainau Island on July 3.
Among the speakers was Indian Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi.
"The nations of the world must take the opportunity at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December 2015 to take decisive action to limit future global emissions," the 'Mainau Declaration 2015 on Climate Change' said.
"If left unchecked, our ever increasing demand for food, water, and energy will eventually overwhelm the Earth's ability to satisfy humanity's needs, and will lead to wholesale human tragedy, the Nobel laureates warned in the declaration.
The signatories to the declaration have all been awarded Nobel prizes in physiology or medicine, in physics or in chemistry.
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This is the first time since 1955 that Nobel laureates used the platform of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting to take a stand on social policy issues.
The first Mainau Declaration signed by 51 Nobel laureates at the initiative of physics laureate Otto Hahn contained an appeal for the peaceful use of nuclear energy and warned of the dangers inherent in its application for military purposes.