CANCUN, Mexico Caribbean diplomats here say the region faces the end of history if rich countries do not raise their ambition to hold temperatures well below two degrees Celsius.

The envoys from the 43 Caribbean, African and Pacific nations, grouped as the United Nations Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), said, at the United Nations climate change talks here, they face the end of history unless action is taken to stop sea levels rise.

For us, anything not below 1.5C is a red line, said Dessima Williams, vice-chair of AOSIS, who is also Grenadas UN Ambassador.

It costs US$4,500 a metre just to protect airports, so we would need hundreds of billions of dollars, she added.

A new UN report says that every country in the Caribbean faces huge economic losses caused by rising sea levels over the coming decades.

It says the region will lose hospitals, airports, power plants, multi-million dollar tourism resorts, roads, bridges and farmland.

According to the report by researchers at the Oxford University Centre for the Environment, the damages in the English-speaking Caricom countries could amount to as much as US$6 billio annually.

With infrastructure costs, damage could run into tens of billions in many countries, the report says.