First meeting of Icelandic Chairship of CAFF a success!

The first online meeting under Iceland’s Chairship of CAFF 2025-2027 made important decisions about the process and timeline to update the actions under the Actions for Arctic Biodiversity 2025-2035, the long-term strategy for how the Arctic Council addresses biodiversity issues and approved a new Circumpolar Seabird Expert Group (CBird) work plan.

Over 100 meeting participants received important updates from several projects and activities including the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program, the Arctic Migratory Birds Initiative, ArcticFIRE, joint projects with PAME (including development of a marine spatial planning tool, and next phases of the Other Effective-area Conservation Measures and Marine Invasive Species projects) and AMAP (Climate change effects and feedbacks), and several other work plan items.

“The plenary was a great success,” says Snorri Sigurðsson, CAFF Chair for Iceland’s Chairship 2025-2027. “The positive spirit and enthusiasm were noticeable which is very encouraging and motivating for me in these first months of the Icelandic Chairship. Updates given on the progress of key projects were promising and I am looking forward to the many upcoming activities. The Heads of Delegations of Arctic States and Permanent Participants as well as Observers and other participants at the Plenary provided highly valuable guidance and important support that is deeply appreciated.”

The CAFF Working Group Plenary 2026-I will be held online in late February or early March.