The 2014 board meeting of the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) working group fo the Arctic Council took place August 25-28 in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. APECS was once again invited to participate, and I was able to attend the meeting as a representative. Much of the first day of the meeting was spent agreeing on realistic deliverables deriving from a series of 17 policy recommendations made following the recently completed Arctic Biodiversity Assessment. This is obviously extremely important in terms of translating the knowledge generated during this landmark assessment into actions that will make a difference for endangered biodiversity in the Arctic regions. Details of the upcoming Arctic Biodiversity Congress in Trondheim in December were also discussed. APECS will be present at the congress and will be organizing social events and a session on education and outreach, so if you have an interest in biodiversity, you should definitely consider attending! Finally, recent progress and future efforts on the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP) were detailed. There might be exciting opportunities for APECS members to get involved, so stay tuned! It was also a lot of fun to see the small Northern community of Cambridge Bay come together to welcome the international delegates who all seemed to be enjoying themselves tremendously!
Jean-Sébastien Moore
