Fungi are all around us, even when we don’t notice them. They drift through the air, live on and within our bodies, and grow beneath our feet, often hidden from view. Yet these remarkable organisms play an essential role in keeping our planet alive.

Beneath the forest floor, fungal networks connect with the roots of plants and trees, helping transport water and nutrients through ecosystems. Fungi also contribute to the storage and movement of carbon, while breaking down dead organic matter and returning valuable nutrients to the soil.

Without them, the natural cycles that sustain life would look very different. Fallen leaves, dead branches, and decaying trees would not break down in the same way, and the nutrients they release would no longer return to the soil through these vital processes.

Despite their importance, fungi have received far less attention in conservation than plants and animals. This overlooked kingdom of life is essential to healthy ecosystems, yet it has historically been left out of many of the international frameworks designed to protect biodiversity.

In June 1992, world leaders gathered in Rio de Janeiro to sign the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, establishing an important international framework for protecting life on Earth. But fungi did not receive the recognition they deserved in the early development of global conservation efforts.

While plants and animals became familiar priorities in biodiversity protection, fungi remained largely in the background. Recognising this gap is an important step towards ensuring that conservation efforts reflect the full diversity of life on our planet.

The Fungi Foundation is working to change that. Its mission is to bring fungi into the heart of global conservation policy, making sure these extraordinary organisms are recognised, studied, and protected alongside other forms of life.

In 2026, an important opportunity arises at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP), hosted in Armenia. Countries will come together to discuss the future of global biodiversity and the actions needed to protect it. The campaign aims to use this opportunity to build international support for the Fungal Conservation Pledge and encourage governments to include fungi more explicitly in global nature protection agreements.

With the support of the Planet Wild community and Ecosia, we’re helping the Fungi Foundation advance this global campaign and encourage political leaders to recognise the importance of fungal conservation.

The potential impact reaches far beyond fungi themselves. By protecting organisms that help ecosystems function, we can strengthen the foundations on which forests, plants, animals, and human communities depend.

Nature is an intricate web of relationships, many of which remain invisible to us. Fungi remind us that the smallest and least noticed parts of that web can have an enormous influence on the whole.

Protecting biodiversity means looking beyond what we can easily see. And perhaps it’s time the hidden world beneath our feet received the recognition, and the protection it has always deserved.