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March 2025
Field Mycology Vol. 26 (1)
30
British Mycological Society
Fig. 1. The beautiful and rare Chrysomphalina grossula, amongst many other fungi, has not yet had its
conservation status assessed. Photo © Rich Wright.
We’re excited to launch a new regular
feature on fungal conservation in the UK.
Feedback from Field Mycology readers showed
that there was a keen enthusiasm to know
more about conservation efforts for fungi in the
UK. Perhaps this is unsurprising, last year a
survey of eld mycologists by the Biological
Records Centre found that conservation was a
strong motivation for recording fungi, coming a
very close second to science and research (Amy
et al, In Press).
For six years Shelley Evans’ regular column,
Conservation Corner, kept eld mycologists in
the loop on all matters fungal conservation.
Now, nearly 20 years after it ended, we’ll be
taking inspiration from Shelley’s feature to
report back to the eld community about what
is happening in fungal conservation. We’ll
celebrate the incredible diversity of our fungi
while also highlighting the challenges that
come with safeguarding these organisms, too
often overlooked in the conservation paradigm.
It will be a space to communicate what the
agencies and non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) are up to, reporting on exciting
practical conservation stories and research
projects, through to musings on what new
policies might mean for fungi and eld
mycologists alike.
Importantly, we recognise that fungal
conservation does not happen without eld
mycologists, whose data, insight and
experience underpin all our efforts for a fungi-
rich future. Thus we believe it is crucial for
eld mycologists to be part of the conservation
conversation. Dialogue is important and we
encourage you to get in touch with us.
Our hope is that the column will inspire
readers to advocate for fungi.
New Beginnings for Fungal Conservation
in the UK…
Dull as it may seem, it’s probably useful in
this rst episode to set out what the
conservation landscape is looking like for fungi.
Environmental policy and legislation has been
a tricky beast to keep atop of, let alone trying
to interpret what it means for fungi. In the
post-Brexit landscape our four countries have
lost the EU as an umbrella organisation on
environment matters. This is leading to new
and divergent governance structures and
policies in the devolved nations. But as
Tennyson put it, “The old order changeth,
yielding place to new”, and so we see the rise of
the Global Framework on Biodiversity which
may help to stop us drifting too far apart.
Nonetheless differences are evident for fungi in
the emerging biodiversity strategies being
prepared by each devolved country. On species
recovery, England’s Environment
Improvement Plan purged the only mention of
fungi from its rst iteration, the 25-Year
Environment Plan, under its Goal of Thriving
Plants and Wildlife. In contrast, the Scottish
Biodiversity Delivery Plan 2024-2030 has
Matt Wainhouse (Natural England)¹ & Rich Wright (Plantlife)²
Fungal Futures: Conservation news and views
31
March 2025
Field Mycology Vol. 26 (1)
British Mycological Society
Fig. 2. Polyporus umbellatus, one of our larger rare
fungi, was included on the Scottish Biodiversity list.
Photo © Rich Wright.
In England, we have seen the publication of
the rst of the Local Nature Recovery
Strategies. These local nature recovery plans
emerged from the Environment Act and will
set the trajectory for regional conservation
planning. The West of England combined
authority have pipped the other 47 LNRS
areas to the post (West of England Combined
Authority, 2024). The rst consultation draft
from May 2024 stated, “there is a lack of data
on the abundance and distribution of fungi in
the area covered”. We know well that this area
has extensive records, perhaps some of the best
recorded sites in the UK, such as Tynteseld
which has a dense annual recording
programme, and Dolebury Warren, now
recognised as one of the richest grassland fungi
sites in England. LNRS guidance from Natural
England is that strategies should adopt broad
taxonomic coverage when setting their
priorities. So, it is a relief to see this feedback
was accepted and the published version
included eight species of fungi. It is clear there
are some dataow issues as well as a lack of
appetite to look for data or ask informed
organisations. Work at Plantlife is currently
under way to address this by supporting all
LNRS areas with a list of fungal species of
conservation concern, tailored to their area,
along with management advice and advocacy
for fungi. A number of eld mycologists have
already contributed to these to make their local
strategies fungi-inclusive. However, it’s clear
that some Responsible Authorities could do
with a nudge from local groups and specialists
actively avoided entrapment in the exclusive
language of ora and fauna, stating in its draft
Biodiversity Strategy that denitions were
amended to replace “animals and plants” with
“organisms” to include other taxa such as
fungi. Go Scotland! They have also committed
to revising the species of principal importance
on the Scottish Biodiversity List which
currently includes 161 fungal species, more
than the other three devolved countries
combined.
to point out important sites, and lobby for rare
species and the inclusion of fungi in every
LNRS.
One exciting prospect in this barrage of new
policy is that the conservation status of a
species (i.e the Red List status) may nally
have some teeth in decision making. In
England, an ambitious legally binding target to
reduce extinction risk (of all taxa) by 2042 has
put Red Lists at the heart of conservation
planning. The two ofcial Red Lists for fungi,
Boletes and Lichens, even form part of the
Extinction Risk Indicator by which the
Government will measure its performance
against this target. Tensions over Red Listing
are understood and Natural England has been
working to come up with a way to move things
forward. Put simply: no Red Lists, no funding.
The imperative couldn’t be clearer. Work on a
grassland fungi Red List (where the threat
cannot be overstated) and an update to the
Boletes will begin later in the year. We strongly
encourage eld mycologists to support this
important work.
One of the big challenges facing fungal
conservation in the UK is who will do it?
Taxonomically inclusive policies could be great
for fungi, but they are meaningless unless the
conservation organisations actively engage in
fungal conservation. Birds have the RSPB,
inverts have Buglife, but who is the vociferous
voice of fungi? Over the last year Plantlife has
leapt into action to start lling this void. Fungi
have always been part of their mandate, but
even they would admit they have been quiet on
fungi until recently. Now with two recently
employed mycologists, Rich Wright and Aileen
Baird, Plantlife is set to become champions (or
is that champignons?) of fungal conservation.
Plantlife is now leading the creation of a new
Network for Fungus Conservation, bringing
together a consortium of organisations and
individuals from government institutions,
NGOs, major landholders, academia and the
eld mycology community. The Network aims
to strengthen collaboration between its
partners and provide not just a voice, but the
practical action that fungal conservation
needs. The structure of this new Network is
being developed but it already feels like an
immensely exciting step forward.
… And abroad
The UK Government has shown some
uncharacteristic leadership in fungal
conservation on the world stage. At COP16 in
Cali, Colombia, Secretary of State for
Environment Steve Reed co-launched a ‘Pledge
for fungus conservation’ with his Chilean
counterpart Maisa Rojas. The Pledge
encourages national governments to recognise
Funga alongside Flora and Fauna in their
domestic policies and legislation and
March 2025
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British Mycological Society
COP20 in Switzerland. Fungi have been
recognised by CITES since 2002, but since then
no fungi have been proposed let alone listed.
Listing was likely hampered by the lack of
IUCN Global Red List Assessments. In 2015,
there were just ve species (four lichenised and
one non-lichenised fungi), but with credit to the
Global Fungal Red List Initiative (Mueller,
Dahlberg and Krikorev, 2014) and an
international network of supporting
mycologists, more than 800 species have been
assessed, with almost half considered
threatened (IUCN, 2025). The UK’s
recommendations to the Parties of CITES aim
to remove fungi from the patronage of plants
and to recognise them as their own kingdom.
Despite concerns about rampant foraging, the
UK does not have a burgeoning trade in
endangered fungi but is expected to propose, or
support proposals on behalf of non-UK species.
Chinese Caterpillar Fungus Ophiocordyceps
sinensis (Winkler, 2010), listed as Vulnerable
due to harvesting and trade, is tipped to be the
subject of the inaugural proposal.
References
Amy, S., Henson M., & Harvey M., In
Press. UK Fungus Data Flows. Natural
England Commissioned Report. Natural
England.
Chile and UK (2024). Fungus
Conservation Pledge to the Convention
on Biodiversity. Available at: https://
assets.ffungi.org/
FungalConservationPledge2024_EN.
pdf. Accessed March 2025.
Mueller, G.M., Dahlberg, A. and Krikorev,
M. (2014). Bringing fungi into the
conservation conversation: the Global
Fungal Red List Initiative. Fungal
Conservation, 4, pp.12–16
IUCN (2024). The IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species. Version 2024-2.
https://www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed
January 2025.
West of England Combined Authority
(2024). The Local Nature Recovery
Strategy and Toolkit. Available at:
https://www.westofengland-ca.gov.uk/
what-we-do/environment/the-local-
nature-recovery-strategy/. Accessed
January 2025.
Winkler, D. (2010). Cordyceps sinensis: A
precious parasitic fungus infecting
Tibet. Field Mycology 11(2): 60–67.
¹ matthew.wainhouse@naturalengland.org.uk;
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3886-6593
² rich.wright@plantlife.org.uk; https://orcid.
org/0000-0003-1766-7293
integrating “concrete measures for their
protection into National Biodiversity Strategy
and Action Plans and by promoting mycology
as an essential science for future conservation
measures” (Chile and UK, 2024).
Casting cynicism aside, this is an exciting
moment for fungal conservation in the UK and
the world. The ‘Orphans of Rio’, as Prof.
Hawksworth once described them, have been
adopted! Well, almost. The Pledge did not get
the signatures it needed to make it onto the
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
agenda. For its part, the UK does at least
appear to be taking its international
commitment on the Pledge seriously. Chile and
UK are continuing to work together to
persuade more countries to sign up in time for
COP17 later this year in Armenia. The growing
list of fungal advocates now includes Colombia,
Benin, Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru,
Ecuador, Cambodia, Guinea, Germany and
Italy.
Several months later, the pertinent question
is how much UK GOV will push for the
institutional change that the Pledge demands
of the four environment agencies. The
Government’s public gestures on nature have
been troubling. The vulnerable and voiceless
have long been easy targets for politicians. So,
while bats and newts are the fall guys for a
faltering economy, and the agencies in all four
countries are facing tough cuts, it remains to be
seen whether the Pledge will keep fungal
conservation buoyant through the coming
storm. In spite of this, our feeling is that we are
witnessing a step change in fungal
conservation, but it’s on us all to continue to
campaign for fungi, to make sure the Pledge
leads to action, not platitudes.
Elsewhere on the global stage, the UK is
pushing for amendments to the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES) so that it formally recognises fungi at
Fig. 3. The Chilean Minister of the Environment,
Maisa Rojas, and Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Aairs, Steve Reed,
signing the Fungal Conservation Pledge at COP16.
Photo © Giuliana Furci, Fundación Fungi (Fungi
Foundation).
