Sarah Lloyd, OAM

In 1992 the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Convention on Biological Diversity agreed on an internationally accepted definition of biodiversity:

“… the variability among living organisms from all sources, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and ecological complexes of which they are part, this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.”

The variability does not just refer to plants and animals — fauna and flora — which have been the subject of most documentation, research and conservation efforts for the past several centuries.

In 2021, the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the IUCN committed to the 3F initiative by using ‘mycologically inclusive’ language in documents and in their conservation strategies.

They will in future discuss and lobby to protect fauna, flora and funga — animals, fungi and plants.

Fungi are finally being recognised as crucial to the survival of life on Earth and, with between 2.2 and 3.8 million species believed to exist (only a mere 8% have been scientifically documented), they form a large, albeit usually inconspicuous, component of species on the planet.

Fungi are distinctive organisms in the way they interact with their immediate surroundings.

They digest their food externally by secreting enzymes into their environment and absorbing organic matter back into their cells.

Fungi (i.e. yeasts, moulds and mushrooms) play a vital role in breaking down organic material.

Concurrent with this decomposition comes the recycling of all the nutrients that would otherwise be locked up in the organic material, and making those nutrients available for use by other organisms.

Fungi are critically important in forest health and regeneration, they play a role in mammalian (including human) digestion, antibiotic medication, and they are involved in the process of making bread, beer, wine and chocolate.

About 95% of land plants have a mutually beneficial partnership with fungi where an exchange of nutrients takes place in the root zone; without fungi, many plants would fail to thrive and some would not survive; orchids are unable to germinate without their fungal partner.

Because fungi are so closely associated with plants and animals, they face similar threats of deforestation, climate change and pollution.

They are also subject to threats from the widespread use of fungicides, overharvesting and nitrogen enrichment.

The 3F initiative (fauna, flora and funga) declared by the SSC has been endorsed by the Chilean government, the first and only country in the world so far to include fungi in their environmental legislation.

The declaration calls on other world governments to follow Chile’s lead.

“We call on state leaders, civil society, scientists, and citizens of the world to embrace them, and create protections for fungi under international, regional and domestic law and policy, both to share the equal significance of fungi among the kingdom of life and to help address the threats that jeopardise the ability of fungal species to thrive and survive,” Jon Paul Rodriguez, chair of the IUCN Special Species Commission.