Previous Online Discussions of the AHTEG

Dear colleagues,

First of all I would like to thank you all and in particular the chairs and members of our two SWGs on “LM trees” and “Monitoring”for your active expert input over the last couple of weeks. I think that due to your dedicated work we are making good progress in improving the structure and contents of the drafts and in fulfilling the mandate given to us by the COPMOP.

It has been recently suggested in a SWG discussion that we should make a pause in further developing guidance on the two new topics until we have finalized or sufficiently clarified the roadmap. While understanding that the workload is challenging to all of us I would like to recall that a mandate was given to the AHTEG by the COPMOP5 which clearly states that the work on the Roadmap should progress in parallel to the development of the additional guidance (see terms of reference, paragraph 3 a and c). In line with this we decided a clear Action Plan at our AHTEG meeting in Mexico which should be the basis for our work. I would also like to note that, while it is true that some text in the specific guidance is linked to the Roadmap, these sections may be flagged and updated as needed to reflect any changes done to the Roadmap at a later stage. Moreover, being the entire Guidance a “living document”, there will be a need to update the various interlinked sections any time a revision is made.

I therefore kindly ask for your continued support as AHTEG members to deliver the expected outcomes as we have been tasked by the COPMOP. Although it is challenging to all of us I think that we should continue to prove that we are able to deliver high quality expertise in the time frame given to us.

Concerning the involvement of additional experts I am sure that the SWG Chairs will do their best to ensure that the relevant experts are involved and consulted. In addition it is of course always possible and welcome that additional experts get nominated to the open-ended online forum and thereby have the possibility to participate in the online discussions.

I thank you for your understanding and continuous support and I am looking forward to our further collaboration in these important tasks.
Best wishes
Helmut