Prominent Chinese sculptor Yuan Xikun (right) and a Maldives official (left) put the sculpture of polar bears into sea, Oct 20, 2011.[Photo/Asianewsphoto/Xu Bin]

Prominent Chinese sculptor Yuan Xikun drops his sculpture of polar bears into the sea in the Maldives on Oct 20, 2011, as a warning about rising sea levels caused by global warming.

"What sinks into the sea today is a sculpture of polar bears. If we don't pay attention to global warming, tomorrow it will be real polar bears that sink into sea," said Yuan, who is also the United Nations Environment Programme's Patron for the Environment and Arts.

The sculpture is a representative work of Yuan. On the bottom is the Earth on which there is a melting iceberg, on top of which lie two panicked little polar bears tightly clutching the back of a mother bear. The art work won the 2009 Champion of the Earth Laureate awarded by UN.