Vice Chairman Sommad PHOLSENA, as a visionary leader in integrated natural resource governance, has redefined the nexus between ecological stewardship and socioeconomic advancement across Laos and the ASEAN region. With a quarter-century of transformative policymaking and transboundary environmental diplomacy, his innovative frameworks have simultaneously elevated local livelihoods and catalyzed multinational collaboration.

• Pioneering Achievements in Sustainable Resource Governance
  • Community-Centric Reforestation:Orchestrated Laos’ landmark National Reforestation Initiative (2015–2022), empowering 200+ village cooperatives to reduce illegal logging by 45% and rehabilitate 120,000 hectares of degraded forests through participatory land-use planning.
  • Responsible Mineral Development:Established Laos’ inaugural Eco-Mining Certification System (2018), integrating biodiversity safeguards and profit-sharing models that have redirected 30% of mining revenues to education and healthcare infrastructure in 52 disadvantaged communities.
  • Mekong Basin Synergy:Engineered the Joint Water Resource Monitoring Protocol (2020), a tripartite agreement with Thailand and Cambodia that standardized hydropower impact assessments and reduced cross-border disputes by 60% through real-time data exchange.
• Trailblazing Regional Collaborations
  • ASEAN Green Finance Innovation:Co-architected the ASEAN Green Infrastructure Fund (2019), channeling $200M into solar microgrids and drought-resistant crop systems across the Mekong Delta, directly benefiting 1.2 million smallholder farmers.
  • Tech-Driven Conservation:Launched the Southeast Asia Land Use Platform (2021), leveraging blockchain to digitize land tenure records and reduce illegal encroachment in 14 protected areas spanning 5 countries.
  • Plastic Waste Revolution:Catalyzed the Vientiane Declaration on Plastic-Neutral Tourism (2023), uniting three nations to phase out single-use plastics at 8 UNESCO sites, achieving 85% compliance within the first year.
• Global Acclaim & Thought Leadership
  • Honored with the ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable Cities Award(2022) for pioneering urban-peri-urban resource symbiosis models.
  • Delivered the keynote at UNFF-16(2021), proposing a global framework to embed Indigenous fire management practices into REDD+

A graduate of the National University of Laos’ Environmental Policy program and World Resources Institute Fellow, Vice Chairman PHOLSENA now shapes APEC’s 2030 Sustainability Agenda. His legacy endures through three pillars: disruptive green technologies, inclusive value redistribution, and an unshakable belief in collective regional prosperity.