UN calls for “funga” to be included in flora and fauna conservation language

Its time fungi gets included in conservation talks: UN Biodiversity is calling for fungus to be “recognised and protected on an equal footing with animals and plants in legal conservation frameworks,” the organization said last week. The UN is pushing for conservation institutions to include the word “funga” — a term coined by Latin American mycologists five years ago — alongside the phrase flora and fauna when discussing conservation issues to reflect the importance of fungi to ecosystem health, The Guardian writes. Focusing on fungal conservation can protect whole habitats and allows the ability to “look at nature as an interdependent set of ecosystems,” chief executive of the Fungi Foundation Giuliana Furci told the news outlet. Government agencies in Australia, Brazil, Iceland, and elsewhere have already adopted use of the term.