The Statue of Liberty is one of several cultural monuments throughout the world that scientists fear will be lost to rising sea levels.

A just-released study by Ben Marzeion from the University of Innsbruck in Austria and Anders Levermann from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany suggests 136 out of 700 locations included on the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture list of World Heritage sites will be affected in the long-term by encroaching ocean water -- caused by global climate change.

"The physical processes behind the global rise of the oceans are gradual, but they will continue for a very long time," said Marzeion in a press release. "This will also impact the cultural world heritage."

The findings, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, were reached after the scientists computed the rise in sea level most likely for each degree of global warming and then compared that with regions where UNESCO World Heritage sites are located.

The scientists concluded the integrity of the cherished monuments be placed at greater risk through coming centuries.

Marzeion and Levermann argue in their study that while the globe's general population is mainly focused the ecological and agricultural impacts of climate change, it must also include make saving the world's cultural heritage a priority.

According to data included in a release about the study, if the average temperature of the planet increases by just one degree Celsius, more than 40 of the 700 total sites would be directly be threatened by the water during the next 2,000 years.

With a temperature increase of three degrees, an estimated fifth of the cultural world heritage locales would face imminent danger.

"The fact that tides and storm surges could already affect these cultural sites much earlier has not even been taken into account," said Marzeion, adding the group of endangered sites includes historic city centers in: Bruges, Belgium; Naples, Italy; Istanbul, Turkey; St. Petersburg, Russia; and several places in India and China.

"If large ice masses are melting and the water is dispersed throughout the oceans, this will also influence the Earth's gravitational field," Levermann said. "Sea-level rise will therefore vary between regions ... Our analysis shows how serious the long-term impacts for our cultural heritage will be if climate change is not mitigated."

The study says the global average temperature has already increased by 0.8 degrees, compared to pre-industrial levels. And if greenhouse-gas emissions increase as they have before, that could lead to global warming of up to five degrees by the end of this century.

"Island states in the Pacific and the Caribbean as well as the Maldives and the Seychelles are particularly threatened, but not only these," said Levermann.

"A majority of their population will eventually need to leave their home islands in the long-term, so most of their culture could be entirely lost sooner or later if the warming trend is not stopped ... If that sea-level rise occurred today, more than 600 million people would be affected and would have to find a new home," Marzeion said.