Fungi belong in the future of nature conservation. And we’re helping make sure the world recognises it.🍄

The Natural World Fund is proud to share that our Lead Scientist has been in Yerevan, Armenia, attending COP17 (the UN Biodiversity Conference) and working alongside the Italian Government to advance the recognition of fungi in international biodiversity policy.

For too long, fungi have been overlooked in conservation. Yet they are fundamental to the health of our natural world. They connect ecosystems, recycle nutrients, support plant life, build healthy soils and play an essential role in the resilience of our landscapes.

Protecting nature means looking beyond the species we can easily see. It means recognising the complex relationships and living systems that make healthy ecosystems possible.

COP 17 United Nations Biodiversity Conference

Our Lead Scientist’s work with the Italian Government forms part of an important international effort to bring fungi into the heart of biodiversity policy.

During COP17, Italy announced its commitment to the Fungal Conservation Pledge, an encouraging step towards giving fungal diversity the recognition and protection it deserves.

At Natural World Fund, we believe effective nature recovery must be guided by science and take a genuinely holistic approach. That means recognising the importance of every part of an ecosystem, including the remarkable organisms working beneath our feet.

We don’t simply conserve nature. We rebuild it. And that starts with understanding all of it.