Q&A with the new CAFF Chair, Snorri Sigurðsson

What is CAFF’s work focused on?

CAFF is the biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council. Its mandate is to address the conservation of Arctic biodiversity, and to communicate its findings to the governments and residents of the Arctic, helping to promote practices which ensure the sustainability of the Arctic’s living resources. It does so through various monitoring, assessment and expert group activities.

CAFF projects, programs and activities respond to the information needs of the Arctic States, Permanent Participants and Observers. In general, most CAFF activities can be categorized as related to monitoring, assessments, strategies, data, communication and policy, although many projects, programs and activities overlap across these categories.

Biodiversity is a broad subject so CAFF’s activities cover a range of diverse topics including ecosystem monitoring, addressing threats to biodiversity such as pollution, alien invasive species, climate change and unsustainable land-use and resource utilization, the role and impact of key conservation measures, i.e. protected areas and species management plans, and especially understanding and promoting the vital role healthy biodiversity plays in sustaining Arctic communities.

What are your ambitions as Chair of CAFF?

Improving the global status of biodiversity is an increasingly pressing issue which requires multiple, complex actions where international collaboration is fundamental. The Arctic is a vast and mostly remote area, however biodiversity is under severe pressure there, which makes collaborative policy and actions vital. The Arctic Council and its Working Groups have been cornerstone institutes for such collaboration. CAFF has been instrumental as a platform for scientists and Indigenous representatives to join forces in bringing forward crucial information about the status of Arctic biodiversity and providing clear and

important messages about the importance of conserving and maintaining healthy Arctic biodiversity. Strengthening this pivotal role of CAFF is a key ambition of mine. In that context, I am particularly interested in looking at ways for how CAFF can increase engagement with, and contributions to, important global multilateral venues of collaboration, to ensure that unique Arctic biodiversity considerations are understood in a global context.

Another ambition is to continue to increase CAFF’s use and recognition of Indigenous Knowledge in its work. Arctic Indigenous Peoples have a particularly deep connection to biodiversity and hold a wealth of knowledge on Arctic species, ecosystems, processes and relationships.

Finally, strengthening the already close collaboration between the WGs is important to seek better harmony in how we address and communicate the status of the Arctic environment and the cross-cutting issues the Arctic is facing. It is also practical as collaboration improves capacity, increases our reach, and better utilizes resources. There we need to ensure that the WG Secretariats, which provide a fundamental operational role which really is multi-faceted, have good capacity and sustained support. Iceland is proud to host the International Secretariats of two WGs, CAFF and PAME in the town of Akureyri in Northern Iceland, which is also a hub for Arctic-related expertise in Iceland.

What are some of CAFF’s projects that we should keep an eye on over the next two years?

The CAFF 2025-2027 Work Plan outlines the projects and activities that CAFF plans to undertake during the Icelandic Chairship of CAFF. I want to specifically mention that a large focus will be on completing the Actions for Arctic Biodiversity (AAB) 2025-2035, the overarching strategic plan that guides all CAFF activities, projects, programs and activities, and how the Arctic Council addresses biodiversity. This plan will build upon the successes and themes of the previous 2013-2023 plan and is purposefully built around the uniqueness of Arctic biodiversity and the peoples inhabiting this area, specifically Indigenous Peoples and their Knowledge. Another key element of the AAB is a clear alignment with the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework of the CBD, to better identify how the Arctic is contributing to global biodiversity targets.

During the recently completed KoD’s CAFF Chairship, the first fundamental steps were taken regarding the AAB by deciding on its structure, including identifying four overarching themes: 1) Addressing individual and cumulative effects of stressors and drivers of Arctic biodiversity loss, 2) Promotion of sustainable use of Arctic biodiversity, 3) Advancing enabling conditions to support implementation of actions and 4) Establishing a monitoring and evaluation framework for implementation of the AAB 2025-2035 and several more specific areas of intervention. The next steps in AAB development are to assess the multiple ongoing actions from the previous AAB 2013-2023 and identify crucial gaps and suggest new actions. The goal is to have a completed Action Plan fully approved by the end of the Icelandic Chairship, bearing in mind that a key attribute of the AAB is that it is a living document and the actions will be reviewed regularly to respond to current and emerging pressures and conservation priorities