Seventy of the world's science academies published a cautionary statement earlier this month to warn of the increasing acidity of the world's oceans due to global warming.
According to the statement published by the Royal Society, a UK national academy of science, the Earth's oceans are now more acidic than they have been for 800,000 years.
"Everybody knows that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to climate change," said Marin Rees, the President of the Royal Society.
"Unless global carbon dioxide emissions can be cut by at least 50 percent by 2050 and more thereafter, we could be confronted with an underwater catastrophe with irreversible changes in the make up of our marine biodiversity."
The scientists said that rising ocean acidity should be discussed at the United Nations Copenhagen climate talks in December. They warned that failing to address the issue would result dire consequences involving food production and the livelihoods of millions of people, besides damage to coral reefs and changes to marine life.