Parts of northern Australia will be unliveable within decades if more is not done to cut carbon emissions, an environmental conference has been told.

Climate change could trigger rising global temperatures that lead to a major jump in "lethal heat" up north, Environment Centre NT executive director Kirsty Howey warned delegates.

The sobering assessment was delivered on Friday in Darwin at Australia's Great North Conference, which has focused on environmental threats to the region.

The Northern Territory was a cultural and national wonder, Dr Howey said.

However, it faced a threat that was laid "absolutely bare in excruciating detail" this week in the first National Climate Risk Assessment, which painted a catastrophic vision of Australia's future if global warming goes unchecked.

"We

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