Partnerships
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is responsible for our Nation’s fish and wildlife resources, and many species have ranges which extend beyond our borders. To ensure appropriate and efficient understanding and protection of these resources, cooperative international partnerships are essential. The USFWS is the designated U.S. representative in several cooperative international efforts, councils, and working groups.
Arctic Council
The Arctic Council is a high-level forum of Arctic governments and Arctic peoples which addresses their common concerns and challenges, especially involving environmental protection and sustainable development. The member states are Canada, Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden and the United States. The Arctic Council leadership is at the ministerial (Department of State) level, and ministerial meetings are held in different countries in rotation every two years. Between those occasions, the work of the Council is directed by the Senior Arctic Officials (SAOs) in consultation with representatives of Arctic indigenous peoples (called the Permanent Participants), and in cooperation with the Permanent Observers. Several non-Arctic states are Permanent Observers to the Arctic Council, including the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Poland. Decisions are made by consensus of all eight Arctic states. The Arctic Council accomplishes its work through several Working Groups, (pdf) including the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF), as illustrated.
CAFF
The USFWS is the lead U.S. agency on the Arctic Council’s Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) Working Group, and this responsibility has been delegated to the Assistant Regional Director of the Alaska Region’s International Conservation program. CAFF was formed in 1992 to discuss and address circumpolar Arctic conservation issues, and advise the Arctic governments ( Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the U.S.) on conservation matters and sustainable use issues of international significance and common concern.
The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Working Group is a very active forum that has established and sponsored a variety of monitoring and conservation efforts important to Arctic fish and wildlife resources. A priority project of CAFF since 2006 has been the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP). This coordinated international monitoring program is being undertaken in response to the Arctic Council’s special initiative, the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA). The FWS staff in Alaska lead the international work of the CAFF Circumpolar Seabird Group and the CAFF Flora Group, responsible for the development of the comprehensive Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Map and the new effort, the Circumpolar Boreal Vegetation Mapping Project. Maps used with permission from the CAFF International Secretariat, Akureyri, Iceland, on behalf of the CAFF Working Group of the Arctic Council. CAFF publications available by contacting the CAFF International Secretariat, Akureyri Iceland - caff@caff.is
The Arctic areas of interest as defined by the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Working Group of the Arctic Council.
ECORA
The ECORA Project is an Integrated Ecosystem Management Approach to conserve Biodiversity and Minimize Habitat Fragmentation in three Model Areas in the Russian Arctic. It is funded by the Global Environment Facility and administered by a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP/GRID-Arendal). Alaska FWS staff are the western advisors to two of these model areas, the Kolyma River Basin and the Beringovsky District.
U.S. Department of State
The State Department has entered into interagency agreements with the International Conservation Program in Alaska to help provide funding support for 2 projects in 2007: (1) a stakeholder's workshop in Washington D.C. to address funding of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program, and (2) initiating the development of a Circumpolar Boreal Vegetation Map.
Marine Mammal Commission
To conduct an experts' workshop on two circumpolar species (ringed seal and beluga whale), the International Conservation Program in Alaska partnered with the Marine Mammal Commission, which like the USFWS itself works to help meet the conservation and protection goals of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Last updated: October 9, 2008
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