GIZ Laos Contributes to Global Dialogue on Indigenous Peoples and Climate Finance at GCF Conference
Inclusive climate action starts with listening.
From 8 to 10 April 2026, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) convened its Global Conference with Indigenous Peoples in Songdo, bringing together partners, policymakers, and Indigenous representatives from across regions to advance more inclusive approaches to climate finance.
The conference provided a platform to exchange lessons from GCF-supported initiatives, recognise the importance of Indigenous knowledge systems, and explore practical ways to improve direct access to climate finance for Indigenous Peoples. Discussions also focused on how policies and programmes can better reflect local realities and strengthen partnerships with communities on the ground.
Representing GIZ in Lao PDR, Yiaheu Touavang contributed insights from ongoing work in the country, highlighting how community engagement is embedded throughout climate initiatives. Drawing on the Implementation of the Lao PDR Emission Reductions Programme through improved governance and sustainable forest landscape management, he shared how inclusive approaches are applied across project design, planning, implementation, and benefit-sharing processes, ensuring that ethnic groups are actively involved and able to shape outcomes that affect their livelihoods and environments.
This experience demonstrates how structured approaches can translate global climate finance principles into practical, locally led action. It also reinforces a key lesson from the conference: climate solutions are more effective and sustainable when they are inclusive, participatory, and grounded in local knowledge.
The outcomes of the conference will contribute to ongoing efforts to operationalise the GCF Indigenous Peoples Policy and scale up inclusive, locally led climate solutions globally, while continuing to inform approaches in partner countries such as Lao PDR. Co-financed by Germany and the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Climate Protection through Avoided Deforestation (CliPAD) programme contributes to Lao PDR’s Emission Reduction Programme and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), aiming to reduce 11.7 million tCO₂ equivalent while strengthening sustainable livelihoods at village level.
