Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna

STAKEHOLDER’S PERSPECTIVE

I Tom Barry Executive Secretary, Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Program II

Introduction The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Program was established to foster a more coordinated, regional approach with regards to the conservation of Arctic biodiversity. CAFF is one of the six working groups of the inter-governmental Arctic Council, and has a focus on biodiversity conservation. Board members come from the eight Arctic countries and six Indigenous organizations. Observers are from international organizations and non-Arctic states. The CAFF mandate is, inter alia: • to address the conservation of Arctic biodiversity, and to communicate the findings to the governments and residents of the Arctic, helping to promote practices which ensure the sustainability of the Arctic’s living resources, and

• to monitor, assess, report on, and protect biodiversity in the circumpolar Arctic.

CAFF produces conservation strategies, guidelines and assessments of Arctic biodiversity, and facilitates monitoring and research. These, via submission to the Arctic Council, help inform policy development and identify gaps in our knowledge. The integration of scientific and traditional ecological knowledge helps regional management and policy issues.

Supporting management of the Arctic’s biodiversity through integrated monitoring There are a number of urgent needs for the conservation of Arctic biodiversity including an evaluation of status and trends; the establishment of baseline data; and improved,

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enhanced capacity to monitor and understand changes. Much monitoring already takes place on Arctic biota, but we need a more integrated approach to biodiversity monitoring on a circumpolar rather than national scale. Such an approach allows for more coordinated gap analyses and answers to regional and global, rather than local, pressures. This approach also allows for greater awareness of Arctic responsibilities to global challenges.

CAFF uses several approaches to respond to these needs, of which there are two main programmes: the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Programme (CBMP), with long-term perspectives in mind, and the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA), which is a short-term status assessment. Two expert groups – one on seabirds, the other on flora – work with both scientific and management issues. CAFF also implements individual projects on the ground, such as the GEF-sponsored project ECORA (An Integrated Ecosystem Approach to Conserve Biodiversity and Minimize Habitat Fragmentation in the Russian Arctic), which worked in three model areas in the Russian Arctic. Furthermore CAFF endorses Arctic projects that are considered important to Arctic biodiversity conservation but are supervised by other stakeholders and actors.

Such activities are essential in order to allow us to determine how to effectively manage and cope with the challenges and changes facing Arctic environments. Numerous natural and human stressors are operating in the Arctic and more recently climate change has heightened the need for strong and coordinated action, to allow us to identify and