The "Funga" Movement Is Reshaping Global Fungal Biodiversity Policy Ahead of COP17
The word "funga" entered the Cambridge Dictionary in July 2026, marking a turning point in mainstream recognition of fungi as a distinct kingdom of life alongside flora and fauna.
Fourteen countries have signed the Fungal Conservation Pledge, committing to equal legal footing for fungi in national and international policy, while Brazil has published its first Official National List of Threatened Fungal Species.
With UN Biodiversity Conference COP17 approaching in Armenia, scientists and advocates are pressing for fungi to be formally embedded in global conservation frameworks, where their absence has left an estimated 90 per cent of underground fungal systems unprotected.
A Kingdom Hidden in Plain Sight
For decades, conservation language has defaulted to "flora and fauna," a pairing so entrenched it has shaped legislation, education, and environmental policy worldwide. Fungi, a kingdom distinct from both plants and animals, were simply absent from the conversation. According to the non-profit Fungi Foundation, that omission rendered fungi effectively invisible in policy debate and conservation frameworks, despite their central role in carbon sequestration, soil regeneration, and sustaining biodiversity. Scientists warn that without fungal protection, ecosystems face collapse, climate change will intensify, and soil health will deteriorate.
The scale of the gap is striking. Only around 160,000 fungal species are currently known to science, against an estimated 2.5 million thought to exist. In Australia alone, an estimated 250,000 fungal species are present, yet only roughly 12,000 have been formally described.
From Dictionary Entry to International Pledge
The word "funga," defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as all fungi growing in a particular area or period, was added to the dictionary in July 2026, a development the Fungi Foundation described as confirmation that the term had moved beyond advocacy circles into mainstream global use. Cambridge's chief editor Colin McIntosh noted extensive evidence for the word's use in both everyday and academic contexts.
Political recognition followed. Australia's Labour government explicitly acknowledged fungi alongside flora and fauna following campaigns by Fungimap Inc and Planet Fungi. Brazil's ministry of environment published the country's first Official National List of Threatened Fungal Species, recognising 24 species as threatened. And 14 countries, including the UK, Chile, Colombia, Spain, Mexico, and Germany, have signed the Fungal Conservation Pledge, committing to treat fungi as an independent kingdom in national and international legislation.
Dr Toby Kiers, an evolutionary biologist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and winner of the 2026 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, described the pledge as significant precisely because signatory governments are committing resources to understand and protect fungal biodiversity, and to develop mechanisms that make scientific data actionable in policy.
COP17 and the Road Ahead
The movement now looks to COP17, the UN Biodiversity Conference hosted by Armenia in October 2026. The Fungi Foundation has already secured references to fungal biodiversity in technical pre-talks covering biodiversity, agriculture, and forest management. Campaigners are pushing for fungi to be recognised in protected-area policy and for underground ecological networks to receive formal priority status. As Giuliana Furci, founding director of the Fungi Foundation, noted, science and advocacy are advancing together, but formal treaty language remains the critical next step. Whether COP17 delivers that remains to be seen, and the history of fungal conservation efforts suggests that momentum, however encouraging, does not automatically translate into binding commitments.
