On Monday April 23 The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) working group hosted a media event to present the updated version of the Arctic Species Trend Index (ASTI) to journalists attending the conference.
The Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP), the cornerstone program of the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) working group, received official endorsement from the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) in January 2012. CBMP now belongs to the GEO BON regional network Arctic-BON. Arctic-BON is one of five regional networks. The other four are AP BON (which includes ASEAN CB), F-BON (France/ECOSOPE), EBONE (Europe), and J-BON (Japan).
In a guest article for the Biodiversity Policy and Practice website, Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) working group Executive Secretary Tom Barry outlines the work that CAFF is doing to support Arctic biodiversity. As Barry states in his article, some of this work is being done in conjunction with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
The Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (ABA) was endorsed by the Arctic Council in 2006. The aims of the ABA are to provide a much needed description of the current state of the Arctic’s ecosystems and biodiversity, create a baseline for use in global and regional assessments of biodiversity, and provide a basis to inform and guide future Arctic Council work.