New Ethnomycology Guidelines: Framework Dedicated to Human-Fungal Knowledge Systems

Too long to read? Go for the highlights below.

• The Fungi Foundation has released updated ethical guidelines specifically designed for ethnomycological research, marking the first framework dedicated exclusively to human-fungal knowledge systems

• The 2025 version emphasises that scientists must serve communities, incorporating more Latin American voices and highlighting cross-sector collaboration between academia, civil society, and Indigenous groups

• Successfully applied with the Kichwa people of Sarayaku in Ecuador, the framework establishes precedent for reciprocal partnerships whilst plans for translation into Portuguese, French, Quechua, and other languages aim to broaden accessibility

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A Historic Recognition of Fungal Knowledge Systems

Originally published in 2023 by the Fungi Foundation, the Ethnomycology Ethical Guidelines has been refined over recent months through collaboration with ethnomycologists, ethnobotanists, and anthropologists. The 2025 version represents a living document, one designed to evolve through experience, literature, dialogue, and, crucially, its application in real contexts, marking what the organisation describes as "a historic step in the recognition of fungal knowledge systems and those who safeguard them."

The timing proves critical. Traditional mycological knowledge exists within a broader crisis: the loss of this wisdom remains inextricably linked to the loss of biological diversity. Across the world, vast ecosystems are being destroyed or threatened, erasing not only habitats and species but also the ancestral wisdom of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant communities, traditional societies, and local communities who have accumulated this knowledge over thousands of years.

Confronting Past Extractivism

The guidelines confront an uncomfortable reality. Past research has been undertaken without proper sanction or prior informed consent from communities, causing harm and adversely impacting their rights. The Foundation acknowledges this directly, committing to work in genuine partnership to avoid perpetuating these injustices and to build ethical, respectful, and beneficial collaborations.

The updated edition introduces significant shifts in emphasis. The Foundation has included more Latin American voices and highlighted that scientists must be at the service of communities. The framework underscores cross-sector collaboration between academia, civil society, Indigenous, rural, and Afro-descendant communities, a departure from traditional researcher-centric approaches.

Photo credits: Tomas Munita

The framework establishes fundamental principles drawn from international ethnobiology codes of ethics, the Declaration of Belém, and Ecuador's Rights of Nature Law. Central among these is the Principle of Self-Determination, which recognises that communities possess pre-existing rights over resources, cultural interests, and traditional knowledge within areas they have traditionally inhabited. This includes explicit recognition of intellectual property rights linked to mycological knowledge.

Practical Implementation

The guidelines move beyond principle into practice. They establish that educated prior informed consent must be secured before any research begins, at both individual and collective levels, as determined by community governance structures. Critically, communities retain the right to refuse research if proposed intentions do not align with their interests.

Reciprocity and equitable benefit-sharing must be addressed from a project's initial stages through open dialogue. Compensation must be consensual, contextual, and ethically grounded, taking into account available resources, community expectations, and regional precedents. The Foundation warns that non-consensual or unjust compensation can reinforce structural inequalities and perpetuate asymmetric power dynamics.

The framework also addresses authorship and credit. All research products must properly recognise and credit those who participate, including the possibility of collaborative co-authorship as a right, not an obligation. Any publication or dissemination of documented knowledge requires prior consultation, agreement, and validation with participating communities.

Respect for elders and knowledge keepers forms another cornerstone. The guidelines emphasise attentive listening and recognition of boundaries, silences, and the decisions of those who choose to share, or not share, their knowledge. This requires establishing genuine, ethical, and non-coercive dialogue. Many ancestral voices wish to be heard, but this must happen on their own terms and timelines.

From Theory to Field

These guidelines have moved beyond theoretical aspiration. They were successfully applied in 2024 through the Sciences Across Cultures Initiative with the Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku in Ecuador's Amazon. This collaboration brought together the Fungi Foundation, the More-Than-Human Programme, musician and anthropologist Cosmo Sheldrake, the Society for the Protection of Underground Network, and Local Contexts, an organisation focused on Indigenous data sovereignty.

The document's authors include Giuliana Furci, Executive Director of the Fungi Foundation and Harvard University Associate; ethnomycologist Mara Haro-Luna; and Nancy J. Turner, Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of Victoria and a leading ethnobotanist. Their diverse expertise spans mycology, anthropology, international development, and agroecology.

A Living Framework

The Foundation emphasises that these guidelines represent a living document, designed to evolve through ongoing review by Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant communities, traditional societies, and local communities. Each community maintains its own organisational forms, internal norms, and ethical principles; the guidelines serve as an open, adaptable guide that can be adopted, enriched, or transformed according to autonomous decisions.

The framework also recognises that mycological knowledge extends beyond rural or Indigenous contexts. Urban areas harbour individuals with valuable knowledge, often inherited through families or acquired through migratory experiences and contemporary foraging practices.

Looking forward, the Foundation aims to translate the guidelines into Portuguese, French, Quechua, and other languages to broaden their reach and accessibility. The organisation expects to increase the number of projects and communities endorsing and implementing these guidelines, establishing mechanisms whereby Indigenous specialists and knowledge holders are recognised as proper authorities in all programmes affecting them, their resources, and their environment.

The Foundation hopes that this document will prove useful not only for those conducting ethnomycological research but also for the communities who choose to share their knowledge about fungi and their surrounding environments. As global interest in fungi's potential to address environmental challenges grows, these guidelines offer a pathway to ensure that the communities who have safeguarded this knowledge for millennia remain at the centre of how it is shared, studied, and applied.