Expo City Dubai launches world’s first fungi survival centre

Dubai: The world’s first Centre for Species Survival (CSS) dedicated to fungi has been established at Expo City Dubai.
Based at Terra, the sustainability pavilion, the new facility is testament to the UAE’s commitment to sustainability and biodiversity.

Fungi key to climate solutions, food security, ecosystem health

Despite fungi’s essential ecological roles, they have been largely overlooked in conservation. Fungi support plant health, carbon storage, ecosystem resilience, and nutrient cycling, and offer innovative potential across medicine, agriculture, architecture, and climate solutions.

The centre has been launched by Expo City Dubai in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC).

IUCN is the world’s largest and most influential environmental network, dedicated to conserving nature and harnessing the solutions nature offers to global challenges. Its flagship IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is the authoritative source on extinction risk, shaping conservation policies worldwide.

“The new Centre for Species Survival demonstrates our commitment to fulfilling the UAE leadership’s vision for Expo City Dubai: a hub to launch initiatives focused on preserving and sustaining our planet,” said Marjan Faraidooni, Chief of Education and Culture, Expo City Dubai.

Centre to spearhead fungi assessments for IUCN Red List

The centre will be the first IUCN Centre for Species Survival in the Middle East and will initially focus on fungi from the region. Its priority is to launch assessments for a global fungi-focused Red List – IUCN’s comprehensive, scientific evaluation of the extinction risk of species and a credible source and catalyst for safeguarding and mitigation efforts.
Fungi represent more than 90 per cent of the world’s unknown biodiversity, supporting nearly all plant life, regulating greenhouse gases, repairing polluted environments and offering breakthrough innovations in climate solutions, food systems, medicine, agriculture and architecture, as well as in fashion and design.

Global expert network joins forces to accelerate fungi conservation

The CSS Fungi will work closely with the IUNC SSC Fungi Conservation Committee and the fungi specialist groups that are part of the largest network of volunteer experts in the world, with more than 11,000 members in 186 territories.

Professor Jon Paul Rodríguez, Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, said: “Fungi span from the smallest (a chytrid fungus) to the largest (humongous fungus, Armillaria ostoyae) organisms studied by the network of experts of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. As a group, the number of species that they encompass is mind boggling, certainly reaching into the millions.”
Professor Rodríguez noted that there are currently 1,300 fungi on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
“So, there is a lot to do to document and understand their threats to guide policy and action.”