Why fungi deserve better protections

Fungi have a nasty reputation among humans. They can cause dangerous diseases like Cryptococcus neoformans and Candida auris among our own kind, massacre beloved fellow animals like frogs and bats and even turn less-charismatic animals like cicadas into horrifyingly mutilated zombies.

Yet a recent proposal by the United Kingdom and Chile to the UN convention on biological diversity (CBD) could radically alter the way people perceive the fungi with whom we share Earth. Organized by a nonprofit organization called The 3F Initiative, the two governments are proposing that fungi be included alongside flora sand fauna as a separate realm for conservation efforts. Citing how human-caused environmental problems like climate change and biodiversity loss are driving fungi species to extinction — including countless mushrooms, mildews, moulds, lichens and yeasts — the pair of governments will argue for large-scale fungi conservation efforts at the COP16 meeting in Cali, Colombia.

“If this pledge is adopted by the CBD, it will introduce a new opportunity for decision-making, a new way of seeing,” Giuliana Furci, the Chilean-British chief executive of the Fungi Foundation, told The Guardian. “Looking at nature without fungi is like trying to diagnose a disease without doing a blood test. Fungi are the firmament of life on Earth. They make systems ecosystems.”