They are also largely neglected in global conservation efforts. As a taxonomic group, fungi are both ubiquitous and diverse, including molds, yeast, mushrooms, and a variety of other organisms. In 2012, the motion passed and Chile became the first country in the world to protect fungi by law.Ĭhile is unique in its legal commitment to these spore-producing organisms. In 2010, she took an even bigger step: Allied with other environmental nonprofits, Furci put forward a proposal for the Chilean government to systematically assess how large new developments such as housing, dams, and highways affect fungi. But Furci also quickly realized that these fungi went largely ignored in Chile, where there were few guidebooks and an almost total lack of policies and resources to legally protect them from overharvesting, land exploitation, and deforestation.ĭetermined to correct this, Furci wrote a field guide for Chilean fungi and set up the Fungi Foundation-a nonprofit dedicated to fungi conservation for which she is the executive director. They were everywhere, and the 20-year-old took particular joy in the multiformity of mushrooms: small and button-shaped tall and umbrellalike bulging, with crimson-red caps topped with white flakes. In 1999, Giuliana Furci developed a profound interest in fungi.
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