In 1992, with the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro and the subsequent Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the world changed for the science of taxonomy. Many taxonomists appear not to have noticed this change, but it has significantly altered the political climate in which taxonomic research is undertaken. By the late 1990s it was clear that effective implementation of the CBD needed the participation of and funding for the taxonomic community. In this paper, I chart the rise of the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI), review some of its goals and explore how it interacts with the CBD. The interactions of the GTI with the Global Environment Facility, a potential funding body, are explored, as are the possible synergies between the GTI and the many other global initiatives linking to taxonomy. Finally, I explore some of the challenges ahead as taxonomy begins to take a front seat in the implementation of environmental policy on the world stage.