Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- an opponent of the the Kyoto Accord -- was urged by 90 domestic scientists on Wednesday to develop an effective strategy against global warming.

"We urge you and your government to develop an effective national strategy to deal with the many important aspects of climate that will affect both Canada and the rest of the world in the near future," said the open letter signed by the country's leading atmospheric scientists from the government, the private sector and universities.

"There will be increasing impacts of climate change on Canada's natural ecosystems and on our socioeconomic activities," the letter said, highlighting more extreme weather events such as floods and droughts.

The scientists said they were sending the letter out of their concern that climate change was not on the federal government's list of five priorities.

The new Conservative government, which came into power in February, listed accountability, tax cut, violent crime, health care and child care as its most concerned fields in a throne speech made recently.

Earlier this month, the government cancelled 15 climate-change programs worked out under Kyoto Accord, including one that encouraged clean urban transit and one to promote green power.

The government said the programs were not helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promised to find a new approach to addressing climate change that is effective and realistic for Canada."

There were even reports recently that the government was planning to cut 80 percent of programs aimed at curbing global warming. Harper has opposed Kyoto Accord openly, saying it was impossible for Canada to fulfill the targets.

Under the terms of the Kyoto Accord, Canada is committed to cutting its emissions by six percent from 1990 levels by 2008-2012. The latest data have shown that emissions were running more than 24 percent above 1990 levels.

Source: Xinhua