Elected as the chair of the Least Developed Countries group (the 48 most vulnerable countries to climate change) at the Lima climate conference in 2014, Giza Gaspar Martins heads a group that is very vocal: it has a lot of support from civil society groups and NGOs/IGOs. They advocate on behalf of their interests, making Martins an influential player in the talks.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Angola fought until the last hours of the Lima COP to become chair of Least Developed Countries group. As neither would compromise, the group decided to divide the two-year tenure, with Angola getting 2015 and DRC chairing 2016.

In Lima, the group advocated strongly for loss and damage but was sidelined at the last minute when developed and developing countries came up with a draft agreement, which the LDC group found out about only when it was distributed in plenary before the crack of dawn on the last day of meeting.