CAFF
CAFF - Conservation of the Arctic Flora and Fauna
To help with the exchange of information and co-ordination of research on Arctic plants and animals.
About CAFF
Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) is a distinct forum of Arctic professionals, Indigenous Peoples representatives, and observer countries and organisations, to discuss and address circumpolar Arctic conservation issues. As one of the Working Groups of the Arctic Council , its primary role is to advise the Arctic governments (Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States) on conservation matters and sustainable use issues of international significance and common concern.
Since its inaugural meeting in Ottawa, Canada in 1992, the CAFF Working Group has sponsored a wide variety of projects, including circumpolar conservation strategies for murres (guillemots) and eiders, a circumpolar network of protected areas, documentation of traditional ecological knowledge, an assessment of the conservation value of sacred sites of Indigenous Peoples of northern Russia, the circumpolar vegetation map, circumpolar expert networks for monitoring key species, an atlas of rare endemic vascular plants of the Arctic, an assessment of the conservation status of Arctic migratory birds, an assessment of climate change impacts in the circumpolar region, and development of integrated ecosystem management strategies in the Russian Arctic.
Perhaps CAFF’s greatest achievement, however, in its 10-year existence, has been to create working links among professionals and local residents of the Arctic who share similar challenges and interests. These links and personal commitments have changed the face of conservation work in the circumpolar Arctic and represent the seedlings from which future sucesses will grow.