GUYANA’S push to expand financing for biodiversity conservation is entering a new phase, with the Global Biodiversity Alliance (GBA) seeking to bring governments, financial institutions, academia and private-sector partners together to turn environmental protection into funding and opportunities that benefit people and communities.
Guyana’s Lead Climate Negotiator and GBA Organising Team lead, Dr Pradeepa Bholanath, said the alliance is working to move conversation beyond the environmental imperative of protecting nature towards creating practical financing opportunities that can support large scale conservation.
Speaking on the Starting Point podcast on Thursday, she said that the GBA was established to bring stakeholders from different sectors into a common platform, recognising that biodiversity conservation requires more than environmental commitments alone, but revenue, investment and strategic development.
The alliance, which began with 17 founding members in July last year, has since grown to include 142 members, highlighting growing awareness and interest in biodiversity from other nations and stakeholders.
Bholanath noted that this year’s talks, scheduled for October 30–31, 2026, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, will examine how new and existing financing frameworks can be utilised and mobilised to deliver tangible results in biodiversity.
“The sentiment was very strong that we need to include stakeholders from all spheres of society. We needed to include other governments in that conversation. We needed to include the academic institutions. We needed to include the private sector, because at the end of the day it’s not just an environmental responsibility, and I believe that is what really sits at the centre of the Global Biodiversity Alliance: taking what really is an environmental imperative and responsibility, now to making this an opportunity for stakeholders to participate,” Bholanath said.
She related that the conference would bring together voices that do not often share the same platform to discuss the challenges facing biodiversity conservation and develop solutions for delivering the resources needed.
Among the participants expected are development banks, including the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Caribbean Development Bank, alongside Standard Chartered, conservation trust funds, philanthropic organisations and representatives of the United Nations.
The Rainforest Trust, Bezos Earth Fund and Andes Amazon Fund are also expected to participate.
Bholanath said the involvement of these institutions are critical in having discussions on what financial instruments are already available, how they can be improved and how much more resources can be directed towards biodiversity conservation.
Academic institutions and private sector players are also major participants slated to be a part of the conference.
“We also have a lot of participation from the development banks, and that brings in the World Bank, the IDB, the Caribbean Development Bank, all joining as part of this conversation, looking at what the banks currently have under their umbrella of offering in terms of financial instruments and how that could now move, and some of those have moved already towards financing biodiversity conservation,” she said.
The first day of the two-day conference, Bholanath explained, will examine existing structures at the country and community levels, assess what is already in place and identify gaps that must be addressed to improve readiness for accessing available financing.
Moreover, the second day will focus on the instruments themselves and how they can be used towards sustainable biodiversity conservation.
In this area, Bholanath said Guyana had already gained experience in mobilising traditional green financing, with the next step being to explore opportunities specifically designed to finance biodiversity.
This, she explained, requires moving beyond discussions about just the need to protect the environment, adding, “Predominantly the conversation around biodiversity always was centred around the environmental side of things: what we need to do to ensure that conservation happens and it is done responsibly and it is done at scale. That conversation has always been a one-sided conversation: what do we need to do to ensure that we do not head further into the crisis.”
She added: “The conversation, though, is, as I mentioned, very one-sided if we do not as well look at what needs to be done to change that paradigm, and what do we need to have delivered in terms of resourcing to take what is a challenge and make that an opportunity.
Furthermore, Bholanath added that the GBA’s work could help broaden international discussions on climate financing, which she was keen to note, should not focus on forest carbon alone.
While Guyana’s forests have been central to its low-carbon development efforts, she argued that their value extends beyond the trees themselves to the wider biodiversity, watershed management and climate regulation functions they support.
Guyana has more than 85 per cent of its land mass covered in forest, representing approximately 18 million hectares, Bholanath said, adding that the country must ensure that the value of those natural resources creates opportunities for its people while supporting the protection of ecosystems.
“I believe the GBA is going to, and has in many ways already started to, make that case that the conversation should not be on one track of climate financing only, which is forest carbon financing. It really has to be along multiple tracks, because when the forest resources are conserved, it is not just the trees that are protected but it’s life as a whole,” she said.
Bholanath maintained that biodiversity financing must ultimately support a people-centred agenda, linking conservation with the sustainability of livelihoods and the long-term well-being of communities.
She said the GBA conference provides an opportunity to build on the progress Guyana has made through its low-carbon development strategy while opening new avenues for financing the country’s natural resources.
Reflecting Guyana’s low-carbon development journey, Bholanath credited President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali’s leadership with helping maintain momentum and ensuring that Guyana continues to be a recognised voice in international discussions on biodiversity conservation.
“It is exciting to see that what began as a very successful model and was delivered as a very successful model in the first LCDS, now is breaking new frontier,” she said further, adding that the next phase of the country’s low-carbon development journey is a significant opportunity for Guyana and for stakeholders willing to contribute to its advancement.
“Not often do you see that success stories have a phase two. Ours has a phase two, and that I believe is going to be the biggest opportunity for Guyana for the next few years, and that is something that all stakeholders can get involved in.”