A study by a pair of US researchers suggests that as the earth's temperature rises, the risk of violence could also go up.

Solomon Hsiang, assistant professor of UC Berkeley, said, "So what we find is that around the world and throughout history, whether we look at the very small scale or the very large scale climatic fluctuations appear to have an influence on the likelihood of human conflict."

The researchers collected data sets from 60 existing published studies, and developed a method to compare the results. Their findings suggest that one of the consequences of climate change in the future could be a dramatic increase in violence around the world.

According to their research, a temperature increase of two degrees Celsius over the next 50 years, could increase the rate of small scale violence, such as murder and rape, by up to 20 percent. And large scale violence, such as war and riot, could rise by as much as 50 percent.