IUCN SSC Fungi Specialist Group Website

Welcome to the home page of the
IUCN SSC Fungi Specialist Group

The Fungi Specialist Group aims to:

Link people with an interest in the conservation of fungi

Improve the profile of fungi, and raise awareness of their ecological importance, threats and conservation requirements

Gather and disseminate information about the conservation of fungi

Refine Red List criteria suitable for the uniqueness and peculiarities of fungal biology and ecology

Produce a global Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan for Fungi, to be published in 2008

The Species Survival Commission is the largest of the six Commissions of IUCN - The World Conservation Union. SSC is a knowledge network of some 7,000 volunteer members working in almost every country of the world. Most of SSC's members are deployed in more than 120 Specialist Groups and Task Forces. Some groups address conservation issues related to particular groups of plants or animals while others focus on topical issues such as reintroduction or sustainable use of species. SSC produces the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and also publishes Action Plans, newsletters and policy guidelines.

IUCN - The World Conservation Union - has members from some 140 countries including more than 70 States, 100 government agencies and 750-plus NGOs. More than 10,000 scientists and experts from more than 180 countries volunteer their services to the six IUCN global commissions. For more than 50 years this 'Green Web' of partnerships has generated environmental conventions, global standards, scientific knowledge and innovative leadership. The mission of IUCN is "to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable" towards the vision of "a just world that values and conserves nature".