Papua New Guinea

Phonesavanh Latmany – who also goes by “Ki” – has been CFAN advisor to Papua New Guinea since 2022. He is the first CFAN advisor to achieve full project approval from the Adaptation Fund, and brings over a decade of professional experience in promoting sustainable development in areas related to climate change especially in agriculture and urban development.

His approach to this project, and to all efforts he undertakes in PNG, puts stakeholders at the forefront. “It's very important to engage and listen to their challenges, their needs and priorities to build a realistic and relevant project,” Ki says. “It's also important to provide them with information to support their decision-making process in terms of proposed interventions. After all, we want to have a community-led project, not something imposed by someone else outside the community."

For Ki, his experience in the Pacific has made clear the stakes of his work. “In these communities, sea level rise and extreme weather events pose serious threats to lives and livelihoods," he says. "Helping these communities to overcome these challenges, address climate change, and also support their livelihood development to build their resilience – that's the ultimate goal for all of us as climate finance advisors.”

Ki previously worked for GGGI in Lao PDR, providing technical and advisory support to the Government of Lao PDR on its green growth and climate change policy. This work included NDC revision and efforts to mobilize climate finance to support implementation. He has also worked for CARE International, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), based in Lao PDR, to promote climate smart and climate resilient agriculture development.

Ki holds a Master of Agricultural and Resource Economics from Kyushu University in Japan, and a Master of Environmental Management from the University of Auckland in New Zealand.