This book has examined a variety of problems associated with fungal conservation. We have tried to go beyond mere debate by including constructive guidance for management of nature in ways favourable to fungi. The geographical range of the examples presented is from Finland in the North to Kenya in the South, and from Washington State, USA, in the West to Fujian Province, China, in the East. Our authors suggest solutions that are equally wide ranging: from voluntary agreements, through ‘fungus-favourable’ land management techniques and on to primary legislation. Taken together, the book offers practical advice on how to include fungi in conservation projects in a range of circumstances.

The book has its origin in a British Mycological Society Symposium at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, UK, in November 1999, combined with a selection of papers delivered at the XIIIth Congress of European Mycologists, held in Alcala de Henares, Spain, in September 1999. There were lively discussions at both meetings but verbal discussion is difficult to represent in writing. We felt it was important, however, to attempt to convey some feeling of the discussions that occurred during the meetings, so we asked contributors to respond, briefly, to the question ‘Are you optimistic or pessimistic about fungal conservation in the 21st century?’

Our contributors replied from their different standpoints and their replies are given here without editorial interference from us.