Pledge for Fungal Conservation:
Chile and the United Kingdom have prepared a proposal named ‘pledge for fungal conservation’ to give fungi its own taxonomic kingdom named ‘funga’.
- The proposal would be submitted during the 16th Conference of Parties (COP16) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Cali, Colombia in October 2024.
- It aims to recognise fungi as an independent kingdom, termed Funga, alongside plants (flora) and animals (fauna).
- It advocates for the recognition of fungi in legislation, policies, and global agreements to maintain fungi’s ecological benefits.
- In August 2021, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) and IUCN Re:wild became the first organisations to recognise fungi as one of three kingdoms of life.
- The Chilean-British-led “3F” (Flora, Fauna, and Funga) initiative emphasises the need for international recognition and protection of fungi.
- As per Mycologists, only 8% of the total 2.2 and 3.8 million species of fungi are scientifically known and about 2,000 new species are discovered annually across the world.
- Mycologist studies fungi such as moulds, yeasts, and mushrooms.
- Fungi help in decomposition, forest regeneration, carbon sequestration, and maintaining the global nutrient cycle.
- They play a vital role in mammalian digestion and are crucial in the production of antibiotic medication.
- Several common food products, including bread, cheese, wine, beer, and chocolate, depend on fungi for their production
Fungi also help in cleaning polluted soils and offer sustainable food alternatives to animal products e.g., amino acids, fibre, and antioxidants. - Boreal forest fungi absorb significant amounts of carbon through root symbiosis with plants, thus contributing to mitigating climate change.
- Threats to Fungi: Overharvesting, nitrogen enrichment in soils, deforestation, climate change, pollution, and the wide scale use of fungicides endanger fungal species.
- These threats jeopardise the symbiotic relationships fungi have with plants and animals, disrupting ecosystem stability.
