The IUCN Species Survival Commission Colombia Fungal Specialist Group was launched on 19 April 2023. This national group aims to secure the conservation, management and, where necessary, the recovery of Colombian funga by mobilizing technical and scientific expertise, building networks and partnerships, and raising awareness of the importance of fungi, their applications, and the benefits they bring to humanity, as well as the threats they currently face. This new Specialist Group comprises a diverse group of specialists who will act collectively for the conservation of fungi in Colombia, and facilitate evidence-based decision-making for preventing the extinction of species.
Colombia is home to 75,947 known species across the various Kingdoms and has two global biodiversity hotspots. With high rates of endemism, the country is a priority region for global biodiversity conservation, and it faces diverse anthropogenic transformations, including habitat fragmentation, loss and degradation, overexploitation, invasive species, pollution and climate change.
Although there has been an increase in the efforts of the Colombian mycological community to highlight the importance of fungal conservation, there is still a long way to go to ensure that fungi are included in conservation plans and actions. So far, 7,241 species of fungi have been reported for the country, but only 27 species have been assessed for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. There is still no official national Red List assessment for fungi in Colombia, and there are no records of threatened species in the Colombian government's Conservation Action Plan.
The Colombia Fungal Specialist Group seeks to promote actions such as holding IUCN workshops to assess the extinction risk of species, training specialists in the application of the criteria and categories, and disseminating the importance of fungal conservation in Colombia. We invite researchers, students, communities, stakeholders and practitioners to contact us with questions, requests for support or ideas for new collaborations.
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