theecologist.org
Scientists push for fungi protection
Conservation language has referred only to “flora and fauna” for decades. The omission of fungi has rendered it effectively invisible in education, policy debate and conservation frameworks, according to non-profit the Fungi Foundation. But scientists argue that fungi are critical to life on Earth. They are key players in carbon sequestration, soil regeneration, and biodiversity. Funga Without them, ecosystems will collapse, climate change will intensify, and soils will deteriorate. Yet, some 90 per cent of the world’s most diverse underground fungal systems are unprotected. To reverse this, the foundation has been driving a global movement to recognise funga as a distinct kingdom of life, alongside fauna and flora, under the 3F Proposal (Flora, Fauna, Funga). The fungi experts want data on fungi to be urgently incorporated into global conservation plans. In July, the movement hailed “a historic milestone” when ‘funga’ was added to the Cambridge Dictionary for the first time. The dictionary’s definition reads: “Funga: all the fungi (= organisms that usually grow on and get their food from decaying material or other living things) that grow in a particular area or at a particular period in time.” Colin McIntosh, the chief editor of the Cambridge Dictionary, explained that its...
