Just over a year after its official launch, the Guyana-led Global Biodiversity Alliance (GBA) has grown to more than 140 partners worldwide. It now aims to agree on a global framework for valuing and protecting biodiversity.
The Alliance’s creator and inaugural Chair, President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, said the second GBA conference and Financing Forum, on October 30 and 31 at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), will seek to align all stakeholders on a single approach.
The goal is to then integrate that approach into the United Nations (UN) and Conference of the Parties (COP) systems.
“This is really Guyana positioning itself to be a facilitator of a global action, of global thinking, and a global formula,” the president said on the Starting Point podcast on Friday.
President Ali first announced the Alliance at the 79th UN General Assembly in September 2024.
It was formally launched with the endorsement of the Georgetown Declaration at the inaugural Summit in July 2025.
Its membership now includes countries, academic and research institutions, international bodies and thought leaders. The UN system joined in May as the 97th member, the United Kingdom has signed on, and India is expected to follow.
President Ali said the world has lost more than 60 per cent of its biodiversity. Countries under economic pressure have had few alternatives, and no international system places a market value on biodiversity as does other natural resources.
“This is such an important asset for the survival of the planet, for the balance of the planet, but there is no value on this asset,” he said.
Since the first summit, research partners have developed frameworks on biodiversity loss and began work on an economic and financial model to support the science. That work will be presented at next week’s forum, held under the theme “Investing in Nature: From Global Commitments to Practical Action”.
The Alliance is working on a financial and valuation model, international standards, and a monitoring and evaluation system to track biodiversity loss and identify new hotspots. It also aims to drive reinvestment to restore lost biodiversity, much as reforestation restores forests.
The forum will bring forestry, mining, and investment interests to the table alongside scientists, policymakers, Indigenous peoples and environmentalists.
“If we are to have an open, frank, and genuine discussion to address the needs of all stakeholders… all the stakeholders must be around the table,” he said.
He contrasted the Alliance with the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030. The LCDS is a national model with global recognition, while the Alliance seeks agreement at a global scale, which he described as a harder task.
“That is the most difficult thing to do, is to get all of these stakeholders to agree on one approach,” he said.
The president said Guyana is well placed to lead the effort, since it has kept its biodiversity largely intact.
“The planet is something that we all have to take care of, but not at the expense of the development aspirations of our people,” President Ali said in his message to the summit delegates. [DPI]
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