PRESS RELEASE: 20 May 2021: Reykjavik, Iceland
The Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) has released its six-year Youth Engagement Strategy to engage youthin the Arctic Council’s conservation work.
The strategy focuses on opportunities for working with youth from school age through early-career experts and was developed with direct input from Arctic youth leaders who served as key advisors.
The Youth Engagement Strategy identifies five primary goals:
- Youth are engaged in the work of CAFF and Arctic biodiversity conservation to their full potential.
- Youth voices and perspectives are empowered to advance the goals of CAFF in the conservation of Arctic biodiversity, international collaboration, and raising public awareness of Arctic issues.
- Arctic youth are given access to diverse learning and leadership opportunities in which their perspectives are valued and respected, and their skills and effectiveness are expanded.
- Opportunities for youth engagement and increasing levels of leadership continue to expand.
- Arctic youth are engaged in conservation, raising public awareness, and promoting Arctic biodiversity in their own home countries and in collaboration with other Arctic nations.
Over the next six years CAFF will work with Arctic states, youth organizations, and other partners to expand opportunities for youth, support Arctic youth leaders, and increase the number of youths engaged in CAFF actions, including, for example, through supporting international exchanges, summits and conference participation, internships, and youth advisory roles.
Youth offer unique perspectives and innovative ideas for conservation, as well as holding a critical stake in ensuring long-term community resilience. Meaningful youth involvement is critical to achieving CAFF’s conservation goals.
For further information:
- Kári Fannar Larusson, kari EP_AT caff EP_DOT is, (+354) 699 2203
- CAFF's Youth work
CAFF is the biodiversity working group of the Arctic Council and consists of National Representatives assigned by each of the eight Arctic Council Member States, representatives of Indigenous Peoples' organizations that are Permanent Participants to the Council, and Arctic Council observer countries and organizations. CAFF’s 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. For more information: 
The Arctic Council is a high level intergovernmental forum to provide a means for promoting cooperation, coordination and interaction among the Arctic States, with the involvement of the Arctic Indigenous communities and other Arctic inhabitants on common Arctic issues, in particular issues of sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic. Arctic Council Member States are Canada, Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States of America. In addition to the Member States, the Arctic Council has the category of Permanent Participants who include the Arctic Athabaskan Council (AAC), Aleut International Association (AIA), Gwich'in Council International (GGI), Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC), Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON) and the Saami Council (SC). For more information: 
