Underground fungal networks emerge as climate frontier

Scientists and academics from around the world gathered in Amsterdam late last month to celebrate the winner of a prestigious award often referred to as the “Nobel Prize for the environment.” In selecting this year’s laureate, many observers believe the committee also delivered a broader message to climate activists about focusing on practical and far-reaching solutions to complex global environmental challenges.

The Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement is traditionally awarded to a scientist “whose work has advanced environmental science, conservation, and sustainability worldwide,” as defined by its organizers.

Yet the prize has long carried significance beyond scientific achievement. Much like other major international honors, it often draws political and public attention to issues of global importance, as highlighted by a WorldPoliticalReview article.

This year’s award went to Toby Kiers, an American evolutionary biologist and professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her research centers on vast underground fungal networks that play a critical role in sustaining life on Earth.

During her keynote speech in Amsterdam, Kiers encouraged audiences to imagine the hidden world of fungi beneath the planet’s surface — what she describes as an overlooked kingdom of life.

These underground systems are not only part of the Earth’s ecological circulatory network, but collectively absorb around 13 billion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the soil every year. Yet, Kiers argues, humans remain largely unaware of their importance because of what she calls an “above-ground bias.”

A central theme of Kiers’ work is interdependence. Fungi survive through intricate systems of cooperation and exchange, both internally and with plants and animals around them.

Part of her pioneering research examines how fungi create what she calls “biological markets” — systems of exchange that reward cooperative behavior and penalize poor-performing partners, mirroring certain aspects of human economic systems built around information, resources and trade.

Her public outreach efforts similarly focus on building networks of understanding that connect environmental issues with broader societal concerns.

The NGO she founded, Society for the Protection of Underground Networks, works closely with More Than Human Life Program at New York University School of Law. Together, the organizations advocate for legal and environmental protections that extend beyond humans to include nonhuman life and planetary ecosystems.

Building global environmental governance

Another hallmark of Kiers’ work is her focus on strengthening global governance to protect emerging environmental frontiers. In this effort, networks of ideas, researchers and organizations play a crucial role in shaping international norms aimed at safeguarding ecosystems. Kiers has been building transnational partnerships to raise awareness of fungi as a key part of the response to the global climate crisis.

SPUN has pioneered the Global Underground Atlas, an initiative mapping mycorrhizal networks across the planet, while also supporting and amplifying the work of scientists around the world — particularly in the Global South.

The organization has additionally pushed for stronger international protections and policy frameworks to preserve these underground ecosystems, many of which remain outside the scope of existing conservation laws and multilateral environmental agreements.

From science to political influence

The article argues that the first step toward any meaningful global governance solution is identifying a physical problem and turning it into a political and social issue capable of attracting attention from governments, activists and the public alike.

“In this sense, Toby Kiers is not just a scientist but an issue entrepreneur,” the article concludes. “And in awarding her environmental science’s top prize, the Tyler Prize committee has amplified her message in ways that can potentially lead not just to scientific breakthroughs, but to political breakthroughs as well.”

By Nazrin Sadigova