POSTED ON BEHALF OF LUCETTE FLANDROY (MODERATOR)

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Dear Members of the Open-ended Online Forum,

Once again, I would like to thank all of you who participated in this session of the forum by sharing your views on the alignment done so far between the Manual and the Guidance, and suggesting further improvements to the Manual in such a way that its concepts are coherent with those contained in the Guidance.

Most participants are of the opinion that the Manual is now more in line with the Guidance. While such an improved alignment is seen positively by most, some participants noted that, by aligning the language of the two documents, the aim of the Manual to explain things in a more straight forward way may be lost. 

It was also noted further scrutiny to ensure consistency between the Manual and the relevant official documents is needed. I will, together with the Secretariat, ensure that all quotes from the Protocol, CBD and other relevant sources appear correctly in the Manual.

There was once again support for the inclusion of concrete examples throughout the Manual which could better illustrate the process described therein.

Moreover, a number of concrete proposals for changes to the text were made. Some participants consider that the language of the Manual is still too prescriptive.
 
In the coming weeks, the Secretariat and I will go through each of these proposals, while keeping in mind our terms of reference, in order to prepare a revised version of the Manual, which I hope will address the issues above in a way that bring us close to reach the final goal of this forum.  

With many thanks again to all of you for the time and attention dedicated to this important discussion.

Best regards.
Lucette Flandroy