CAFF's Framework document, the Program for the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Framework Document, approved by Ministers in 1991, was a response to the lack of circumpolar information about Arctic biodiversity, and coincides with the environmental awakening occurring in global politics during the late 80s and early 90s with the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21, the World Charter for Nature and the growing rise in awareness of sustainable development in the context of global politics.
The primary funcitons assigned to CAFF were:
- to collaborate for more effective research, sustainable utilization and conservation;
- to cooperate to conserve Arctic flora and fauna, their diversity and their habitats;
- to protect the Arctic ecosystem from human-caused threats;
- to seek to develop more effective laws, regulations and practices for flora, fauna and habitat management, utilization and conservation;
- to work in cooperation with the Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic;
- to consult and cooperate with appropriate international organizations and seek to develop other forms of cooperation;
- to regularly compile and disseminate information on Arctic conservation;
- to contribute to environmental impact assessments of proposed activities.
