About 13 billion tons of CO2 disappear underground each year, pulled down by mycorrhizal fungi — a volume equal to roughly a third of annual fossil fuel emissions — and until recently, most conservation frameworks didn't even acknowledge fungi as a distinct kingdom of life. At COP16 in 2024, Chile and the UK introduced the Fungal Conservation Pledge, and 13 countries informally agreed to put fungi on equal footing with flora and fauna, reports Yale Environment 360. Formal adoption is planned for COP17 this fall.
Of the estimated 2.2 to 12 million fungal species on Earth, only 155,000 have names. Nine out of ten plant species form partnerships with mycorrhizal fungi for water and nutrient uptake. The Suillus genus can even sort toxic metals from nutrients, feeding trees what they need while blocking what would harm them.
Toby Kiers of Vrije University Amsterdam received the Tyler Prize — sometimes called the "green Nobel" — for her work on mycorrhizal networks. She shared a 2025 MacArthur Fellowship with Giuliana Furci of the Fungi Foundation. "The awards feel like an award for the invisible," Kiers told the New York Times.
Agarikon, a shelf fungus used medicinally for 2,000 years, is one of just two fungal species classified as endangered in the US — not because others are thriving, but because so little is known about them. Its population dropped 70 percent over the last century, and samples now sit in the San Diego Zoo biobank. "The Pacific Northwest is the last stronghold," said Jessica Allen of NatureServe.
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