King Charles III, Commonwealth back Guyana’s biodiversity agenda

President Dr Irfaan Ali is in the United Kingdom for a series of high-level engagements focused on Guyana’s work in climate, environmental protection and biodiversity.

At the conclusion of his first day of meetings, King Charles III and the Commonwealth commended Guyana’s progress and pledged continued support.

The Guyanese leader first met with King Charles at Buckingham Palace, where they engaged in discussions on ongoing collaborations in the areas of environmental protection, biodiversity, and climate action.

In a live broadcast following the engagement, President Ali noted that King Charles has recommitted his support to Guyana.

“He is not only an onlooker in what we’re doing but he is an active participant and a promoter of the work Guyana is doing in terms of climate, environment, forestry and now biodiversity,” the President noted.

“So, we had a very good engagement. King Charles has recommitted his support to Guyana, lauded the work that we’re doing, and we came up, of course, with the priorities in these areas, that we will pursue and I exchanged ideas of how best we can bring financing, we can look at a biodiversity model that is market-based…and importantly, one in which we can build an ecosystem around,” he outlined.

As Guyana positions itself as a major player in biodiversity and ecological services, President Ali said the Commonwealth has similarly reaffirmed its support for the country’s efforts.

A key outcome from that engagement, is an agreement to collaborate on strategic initiatives to support the Global Biodiversity Alliance. A Joint Working Team will advance efforts to establish an International Biodiversity Centre of Excellence based in Guyana.

“…to have that centre operationalised very quickly, but integrated with other centres around the world. This is important in a world where we’ve already lost 60% of our biodiversity,” the President said.

Only a few days ago, outgoing British High Commissioner to Guyana, Jane Miller, announced that the United Kingdom will be joining the Global Biodiversity Alliance (GBA) – an initiative crafted by President Ali that seeks to accelerate international financing and technical expertise to conserve the world’s biodiversity resources.

The GBA is a new platform launched by President Ali last year that seeks to elevate biodiversity on global agendas. Stemming from the inaugural Global Biodiversity Alliance Summit held in Georgetown in July 2025, the GBA Secretariat will be set up in Guyana and will work with key stakeholders to advance its priorities, which include the designation of new protected areas and securing the necessary funding and resources for managing them effectively.

At the end of last year’s summit, 14 countries had joined the Alliance as founding members and agreed on a concrete action plan. The first meeting of the founding members will be hosted this year, ahead of the second summit.

Meanwhile, while in the UK, President Ali also met with CEO of UK Export Finance (UKEF), Tim Read, on key infrastructure projects as part of Guyana’s transformational agenda. Matters discussed included current pipeline projects such as the CJIA terminal expansion and the expansion of UKEF’s portfolio in Guyana. Teams from the Government of Guyana and UKEF will be having follow-up meetings in the next three weeks to advance discussions.

Among the officials accompanying the Guyanese leader in these engagements are Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Priya Manickchand, and presidential advisor on climate change and biodiversity, Shyam Nokta.