Conservation

Fungi are not acknowledged as relevant organisms in decision-making spheres, although we are unthinkable without them. Language creates reality and we want to place the fungi where they belong.

Goals

3Fs: Flora Fauna Funga, is integrated and used by global educational and environmental institutions and organizations as language to refer to macroscopic life on Earth.

Determine probability of extinction of fungi in every continent using IUCN Redlist Criteria.

Our Work

Initiative

Fauna, Flora & Funga

This initiative aims to write this neglected kingdom of life into conservation and agricultural policy frameworks, protect it under international and domestic law, and unlock crucial funding for mycological research, surveys and educational programs.

State of the World’s Fungi

Published in 2018, it’s the first report outlining the state of the world’s fungi. It was organized by Royal Botanic Gardens, KEW, and co-authored by Giuliana Furci.

The report makes it clear that fungi should be viewed on a par with the plant & animal kingdoms. What also becomes apparent is that when looking for nature-based solutions to some of our most critical global challenges, fungi could provide many of the answers.

Read the Report

[Credit: Giuliana Furci]

Advocacy

Constitutional Assembly of Chile

Listen to Giuliana Furci in the Environment and Rights of Nature Commission of the Constitutional Assembly of the Republic of Chile on November, 2021, advocating for Fungi to be included explicitly through the foundation's 3 Fs Initiative; and to be inclusively included along with plants and animals when those two kingdoms are mentioned.

View Video

[Credit: Giuliana Furci]

Advocacy

Chilean environmental law

In 2010 it was decided to modify the Law on General Bases of the Environment of Chile (Law 19.300). Giuliana Furci, along with allies from other environmental non-profits like Terram Foundation, took this opportunity to propose a baseline of fungi. In 2012, fungi officially entered Chilean law. In the most recent species classification of 2019 there are 45 species of fungi and lichens listed.

Find out more

[Credit: Giuliana Furci]

IUCN Redlist Criteria

Butyriboletus loyo

Chile was and remains the only country that considers fungi in its law. After achieving it, Butyrioletus loyo was listed as an endangered species, due to the reduction in the size of its population, the high levels of exploitation for human consumption, and the impoverishment of its habitat due to deforestation. Loyo also entered the IUCN red list globally.

Since then, we’ve collaborated in several studies and reports to establish sustainable harvesting practices.

Explore our work with Loyo

Campaign

FFCL Fungarium

The FFCL Fungarium has samples from all over the world and houses close to 2.000 species collected from Chile. Currently, the oldest samples date from the 60s-70s. The FFCL Fungarium contains unique species worldwide such as Amanita galactica (Furci & Dentinger 2020).

The curators are Giuliana Furci and Dr. Francisco Kuhar, curator of the CORD Herbarium in Argentina, CONICET Researcher at the University of Córdoba, and co-founder of the Hongos de Argentina Foundation.

Learn more about this campaign