Egypt, a Case Study

Sustainability Cybernetics Journal 2(1): 1–16 (2017) ISSN 2057-0430

http://www.icea-global.org/SCJ.html

The orphans of Rio in Northern Africa – Egypt, a case study

Ahmed M. Abdel-Azeem and Fatma M. Salem

Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt- [email protected]; [email protected]

Submitted 22 January 2017, Accepted 28 February 2017, Published online 7 March 2017

Citation: Abdel-Azeem, A. M. and Salem, F. M. 2017 – The orphans of Rio in Northern Africa- Egypt, a case study. Sustainability Cybernetics Journal 2(1), 1–16.

Abstract

Ecologically and economically, the Fungi kingdom is of an immense value and is necessary for sustainable life on the planet. There are six kingdom classifications of life - with Fungi classified as a kingdom of their own. Taxa of Kingdom Fungi are diverse, and as the second largest group of organisms - after insects, are distributed among numerous groups of living organisms. Technological advances in molecular research have enabled mycologists to discover and identify fungal taxa. It is estimated that as many as 1.5 million fungal species exist. Fungi are ubiquitous for ecosystems; undertaking many roles both independently and in association with other organisms. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in the last decade, has recognized that fungal conservation is important for plant and animal conservation, and has asked governments worldwide to pay much more attention to conserving fungi. The biodiversity and conservation of fungi and public perceptions in NA - especially in Egypt, remains very low, and a lot of education is urgently needed. This work has to be considered as an important contribution to the nature conservation program in Egypt. One important theme is the sustainable use of fungal resources, enforcement of legislations and conventions concerning the fungal diversity in different habitats in Egypt. In addition to the urgency of environmental education, the application of appropriate protected-area-management systems is also recommended. There is a need to separate fungi from plant kingdom, decisively, in educational courses in Egypt, and to integrate mycodiversity into the science and environmental curricula and extra-curricular activities. Egyptian mycologists have a responsibility to communicate and discuss these issues to the public and politicians. This is a very challenging task, as even the scientific communities often overlook the importance of fungi and their fundamental role in conservation, recycling and protection of ecosystems. Capturing the attention of Egyptian politicians is even more difficult as Egyptian legislation is strongly focused on protecting habitats of animals and plants while ignoring fungi. Governments, communities and individuals all have stewardship responsibilities for protecting biodiversity including fungi. While the state of legislative fungal protection in Egypt remains largely unchanged, there is at least slow progress in the areas of recognition and knowledge of fungi. In Egypt, fungi are ignored due to their treatment as a part of flora. The number of the Egyptian fungi recorded is 2420 taxa - exceeding the Egyptian plants', after an exhaustive revision of all the available literature and sources mentioned since 1813. Some threats for Egyptian fungi can already clearly be identified: Loss of habitat due to overgrazing, medicinal plant collection malpractices, climate change,

Submitted 22 January 2017, Accepted 28 February 2017, Published online 7 March 2017 1 Corresponding Author: Abdel-Azeem, A. M. – e-mail – [email protected] human population growth, pollution of water resources including the Nile River, bioprospecting and the fragility of desert ecosystems. In most cases in Egypt, however, the scarcity of information about fungal populations makes conservation status evaluations beyond “data deficient”, difficult or impossible. The Egyptian strategy right now should consider the paramount importance of fungal species for biodiversity. On participation in the preparation of the the National Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity Conservation in Egypt, I recommended five major interventions. In 2016, Abdel-Azeem introduced the Egypt’s National Fungus Day with the unlimited support from the CBD, IUCN and mycologists and he founded the Egypt’s Mycologists Network (EMN) [see annex, 5c] as a structured network of Egyptian mycologists, with a steering committee to guide and promote best practices, and to resolve relevant through collaboration between mycologists, amateur fungal groups, fungal conservation societies, regional natural parks and environmental agencies.

Key words – Climate changes – conservation – desert – diversity – education – Egypt – fungi – Northern Africa – truffles

Introduction

The Northern African countries (6 countries and 1 disputed) constitute an area of 8,258,701 Km2 with a population of more than 210 million people. United Nations (2016) divided Northern African countries into three climate regions: northern (Mediterranean climate), southern (arid to semi-arid with Saharan climate), and western (oceanic climate)

The United Nations' list of protected areas (Deguignet et al., 2014) show that conservation of nature in Northern Africa (NA) increased in the last two decades, in which a total 599 protected areas were either designated, proposed, not-reported, or adopted (Deguignet et al., 2014). Additionally, conservation of nature, and conservation training courses, in NA have been actively pursued, receiving much international attention during the last three decades (Deguignet et al., 2014), but fungi – in this regard; their diversity, their unexplored habitats, conservation status and the significance of protecting them, are all being consistently overlooked. The “Orphans of Rio” (Hawksworth, 1997) situation, reflects how the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has been powerless in conserving fungi (Minter, 2010) even the CBD which is committed to encourage sustainable development. Due to such lack of attention and under-fund of mycological activities, the true biodiversity of Kingdom Fungi is unknown, since many fungi are inconspicuous and with incertae sedis taxonomic position, and therefore, many fungi species are treated as the 'Cinderella' among step-sisters; lost between both Animal and Plant kingdoms (Abdel-Azeem et al., 2012).

Egypt is a NA country with an area of about 1,000000 Km2, mostly arid (World Atlas). Located at the northeast corner of Africa, at the crossing of three continents Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean Europe, Egypt is - geographically, a transcontinental country while - culturally, a cross-road for great civilisations (see Deguignet et al., 2014). Egypt is enclosed by two seas, one on the North (the Mediterranean) and the other on the East (the Red Sea). River Nile divides Egypt into a western part including the Libyan Desert (ca. 681000 km2) and the Eastern Desert (ca. 223000 km2), and the Sinai Peninsula (ca. 61000 km2). The Nile basin, containing the valley in the south (Upper Egypt) and the Nile delta in the north (Lower Egypt), and constitutes the densely inhabited farmlands of Egypt (ca. 40000 km2). Based on it’s unique geographical position which enhanced by presence of the Nile, Egypt hosts a wide diversity of terrestrial, aquatic and marine habitats (CBD).

2 2. Factors Limiting Fungal Conservation in NA

2.1 Misrepresentation: Fungi or Plants?

In 1969, Robert Whittaker set a new (fifth) Kingdom to hold fungi, as separate from animals and plants. In terms of roles, we may say that while plants are mainly producers, animals are mainly consumers, and fungi are the recyclers. Although fungi are just as much threatened - as animals and plants; by climate change, habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, over- exploitation and even, in some cases, persecution; they are the least protected. In Egypt, the Nature Conservation Sector of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), treated fungi as plants before 2014 and included the Egyptian fungi in the flora list The estimate number of fungi on earth is currently thought to be greater than what Hawksworth (1991) had suggested; 1.5 M species of fungi (Hawksworth, 2001). A total number of 98,998 of fungal species accepted to date by Kirk et al. (2008) in the 10th edition of Ainsworth & Bisby’s Dictionary of the Fungi (excluding taxa treated under Chromista and Protozoa). They reported 1039 species of chromistan fungal analogues and 1038 as protozoan fungal analogues (Abdel-Azeem, 2010). Environmentally, fungi are tremendously important and offer indispensable services to the ecosystem e.g., soil formation and fertility (Soliman, 2015). Fungi are also a very important source of secondary metabolites and novel chemicals of great value in pharmaceutical industries and medicine e.g. polyacetylenes, ergot alkaloids, steroid derivatives, antibiotics, statins, anti- rheumatoid and anti-cancer drugs, etc (Moore, 2001). Following several international calls/conferences and campaigns carried by mycology lobby groups and enthusiastic conservationists, the IUCN has responded and considered the fungal conservation as important as of animals and plants. Conservation of fungi in NA though, is still being overlooked and the challenges involved are predictably daunting in comparison with those of animals and plants. By searching the database of the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC) only one culture collection in NA was recorded (World Data Centre for Micro-organisms (WDCM)) to conserve fungi and other microorganisms. According to the Michelli Guide to Fungal Conservation, all NA countries are totally deficient (see Micheli Guide), except for Egypt; even though they have all signed The Rio Conventions’ mandate (See annex, 15). This fifth national report (most recent) of Egypt recognized this reality [the report avoids the very common mistake of treating fungi as though they are plants as before].

2.2 Absence of adequate fungal documentation

Egypt, and NA countries in general, host a rich biological diversity of fungi. Conservation of nature by ancient Egyptians was recorded on walls of temples and papyrus sheets. Egypt, known as the cradle of civilisation, has documented its fascination with fungi, when ancient Egyptians produced a number of hieroglyphic depictions of psychedelic mushrooms on temple’s walls and through hieroglyphic texts throughout the country (Abdel-Azeem, 2010) (Fig. 1). The majority of temples with countless pillars, e.g. Philae temple, are like huge mushrooms with caps, tall stipes, and mushroom imprintings and paintings distributed all over Egypt (Abdel- Azeem, 2010, 2014). Berlant (2005) theorized that both ancient Egyptian crowns, white and triple, were inspired from the primordia of Psilocybe cubensis. Many old dynastic ear studs and other structures that obviously resembled mushrooms (Fine Arts Catalogue of Boston Museum, 1982; Aldred, 1971). The Hearst (1550 B.C.) prescriptions 89-92 deal with the treatment of skin abrasions or contusions, recommend the application of moldy bread crumbs, salt, and rags. Here one may assume an ancient observation on the possibility of molds being helpful in preventing skin

3 infections in connection with abrasions. This is a long way from the modern antibiotics, but it suggests the same sort of observational skill (Leake, 1952). In contemporary Egypt, however, this is not the case. The documentation of activities related to fungi, whether of collection, conservation, bioprospecting or biodiversity are extremely limited.

2.3 Limited checklists updates

Updated checklists of fungi are very limited in NA even they are one of the most important and critical tool for conservation (Söderström et al., 2007, 2008). Egyptian fungi have been the target of few comprehensive assessments published in the last three decades (e.g. El-Abyad and Abu-Taleb, 1993; El-Abyad, 1997; Moustafa, 2006; Abdel-Azeem, 2010; Moustafa and Abdel- Azeem, 2011; Abdel-Azeem and Salem, 2013a, 2015; Nafady et al., 2016 and Soliman et al., 2016).

2.4 Lack of accountability for fungal conservation

In the majority of NA countries fungi still treated as plants and the responsibility of their conservation back to the Ministry of Environment. Egypt signed in 1936 the Convention of the Preservation of Fauna and Flora in their Natural State as a pioneer country in NA and worldwide to conserve natural resources and their biodiversity. In 1979 the Egyptian Wildlife Service (EWS) has been established by the Ministry of Agriculture as the first national institution concerned with the formulation and implementation of policies to protect the Egyptian wildlife. Later on, the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) replaced EWS, which has become recently a department of the State Ministry of Environmental Affairs. Egypt signed CBD in 1992 and completed the ratification in 1994. The Egyptian (National) Biodiversity Unit of EEAA, Academy of Science and Scientific Research (ASRT), Governmental Universities, Research Centers, National Institutes, Zoological and Botanical Gardens and Non-Governmental Organizations are also concerned with the task of protection of living organisms, including fungi (Abdel-Azeem and Soliman, 2011a).

2.5 Educational challenges to fungal conservation

Fungal conservation not integrated in the curricular and extracurricular activities in the majority of NA countries. In Egypt, Abdel-Azeem and Soliman (2011) started designing integral extracurricular activities related to biodiversity in general and to fungal conservation in particular. Later on Soliman with Abdel-Azeem in 2011 initiated the Science Across Egypt© Project through different activities to train science teachers, students and school managers on fungal conservation activities either directly or indirectly. The SAE programme for schools has, unfortunately, been interrupted by the political upheaval and the change in NGOs laws, and has come to a halt in 2013. The efforts continue on the higher-education level, though, through the activities of the Arab Society of Fungal Conservation founded and chaired by Dr Ahmed Abdel- Azeem.

Figure (1): A- Wall relief of a mushroom basket in Temple of Hathor, Dendera, B- A pillar with a fan or oyster-shaped top in Temple of Philae in Aswan, Egypt, C- Mushroom relief in Edfu Temple © Abdel-Azeem 2016.

2.6 Un-monitored bioprospecting vs. Conservation

Fungi (macro or micro) in NA countries suffered all the time from unsupervised/unmonitored and excessive bioprospecting - which generally described as the search in extreme or biodiversity-rich environments for naturally occurring chemical and biological compounds (Abdel-Azeem et al., 2012), and collection (as in the case of desert truffles - (Soliman, 2013; Abdel-Azeem and Salem, 2013b).

3. Fungal Conservation Efforts in Egypt as a Case Study

Since 2007 Dr. Ahmed M. Abdel-Azeem, a mycosystematist and staff member of faculty of Science at the University of Suez Canal, and his team of young, energetic mycologists, teachers and colleagues established substantial plans and long-sustained efforts to conserve the Egyptian fungi through different activities they are:

Figure (2): A- Graduation of Bedouin’s women trainees after mushroom cultivation courses, B- A training course on cultivation of mushroom in plastic mesh, C- Old Bedouin’s woman trained on production of mushroom by vegetables plastic basket technique, D- Pleurotus ostreatus produced by Bedouin’s women © Abdel-Azeem 2010. 3.1 From 2007 on to 2010, Dr. Abdel-Azeem, (as the founder of the Community and Environmental Services Society (NGO) in Saint Katherine, South Sinai) arranged many training and workshops to more than 200 Bedouin women (Fig. 2) in the Sinai Peninsula on cultivating and marketing mushrooms for food (EuropeAid/123879/C/ACT/EG).

3.2 In 2011, Dr. Abdel-Azeem won the prestigious Rubenstein Research Fellowship Award for his scientific research and commitment to online collaboration and outreach studies on the fungi of North Africa and the Middle East under mentorship of Dr. David Minter (Principal Scientist at CABI (formerly the International Mycological Institute) and President of International Society of Fungal Conservation). Abdel-Azeem scholarship directed to develop a minimum of 400 Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) compatible web pages for non-lichen forming Egyptian Ascomycetes species (see annex, 4). Since 2012, more than 260 EOL pages have been published online for the Egyptian taxa by Abdel-Azeem (Fig. 3).

3.3 Dr. Abdel-Azeem and his team started campaigning to raise awareness on fungal and environmental conservation among Egyptian schoolchildren. In 2011, Soliman and Abdel- Azeem - under the Science Across Egypt Programme, surveyed 400 students in 20 schools online and on site polls to check if the school students have any information on the fungi and their environments (Soapbox Science 2011: Science Across Egypt Project; Soliman, 2011b). The results showed out that 86.4 percent of the surveyed students thought that fungi were microorganisms. One of survey questions about the number of the Egyptian protected areas was not correctly answered be all the participants – who were not allowed to search the answers online.

6 Amusingly, about 5% of students surveyed said they've ever visited any Egyptian protected area. The authors applied the same survey to 40 journalists and the results were not so different (Abdel-Azeem and Soliman, 2011a).

Figure (3): A- Abdel-Azeem as a scholar of EOL for description of North of Africa and Middle East fungi, B- An EOL compatible web page for an Egyptian fungus established by Abdel-Azeem and Minter © Abdel-Azeem 2012.

3.4 Dr. Abdel-Azeem presented publications, provided and help in translation of online articles, database websites on fungi, and fungal conservation publications (Abdel-Azeem and Minter, 2011; Abdel-Azeem, 2011; Soliman and Abdel-Azeem, 2011; Abdel-Azeem and Soliman, 2011b, 2012; Soliman, 2011; Abdel-Azeem and Soliman, 2011 c). Abdel-Azeem translated the database of the Cybertruffle's Robigalia website, and made it available for the Arabic speakers. Database of Cybertruffle's Robigalia’s provides a total number of 685 401 records of living biota. The conversion of databases of fungi and associated organisms of Cybertruffle's Robigalia and Cybernome into Arabic language by Abdel-Azeem is considered a huge step for the Arab researchers, educators, students and amateurs mycologists (Abdel-Azeem et al., 2013).

3.5 In 2011, Dr. Abdel-Azeem with Ms Soliman (educational consultant) introduced mycology in extracurricular activities at Port Said American School, Egypt – for a beginning.

7 High school students become totally engaged and have fun with science as they learn to research, isolate and identify indoor and outdoor fungi by deposition plate technique. Gihan S. Soliman and Dr. Abdel-Azeem organized school events to introduce leading fungi experts and brilliant international mycologists to school children (Fig. 4). Blending the exciting world of mycology, pleasure and inspiration for future scientists made these events memorable and popular.

Figure (4): A visit of Dr. Kari Steffen, in the middle, a Finnish mycology expert to Port Said American School in Cairo © Abdel- Azeem 2011,

3.6 Dr. Abdel-Azeem raises national and international awareness on fungal conservation through organizing workshops in different Egyptian universities and research centers for scientists and for stakeholders and decision makers since 2010. Training courses included more than 250 students on: How to apply IUCN red-listing criteria for assessing and reporting on the conservation status of Egyptian fungi? Abdel-Azeem’s higher-education team of undergraduate and postgraduate students has recognized participation in local and international conference by their researches on Fungal conservation. Examples of such participants are of the Sixteen Congress of European Mycologist; BioVision Alexandria 2012, 2014; TWAS-ARO 8th Annual Meeting 2012; Horizon 2020 Capacity building workshops (2011, 2012); Eu-Jordan Networking in renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (Jordan, 2013); Third International Congress for Fungal Conservation (Turkey 2013).

3.7 Dr. Abdel-Azeem in 2012 was selected as international expert to survey the air microbiota in the unveiled Cheops’ second boat pit (Fig. 5). He isolated eight species of air fungi from the pit belonging to four genera. Abdel-Azeem as a mycologist who has studied the fungi of North Africa has been selected as a team member to study the fungi deteriorated archaeological wood in Abydos Middle Cemetery project (See annex, 9).

3.8 In 2013, Dr. Abdel-Azeem founded the Arab Society for Fungal Conservation (ASFC) as a pioneer society for fungal conservation in the Arab world and North of Africa (Fungi of Egypt). The society founded in Botany Department, Faculty of Science, University of Suez Canal (Abdel-Azeem and Salem, 2013b). In 2014, the society received a grant from The

8 Figure (5): A, Air sampling from the unveiled Cheops’ second boat pit © Abdel-Azeem 2012. Mohamed bin Zayed (MBZ) Species Conservation Fund (see annex, 11) to conserve and evaluate the current conservation status of 10 species of Egyptian Fungi (Fig. 6).

Figure (6): A, B- Morchella esculenta a threaten species in Egypt © Abdel- Azeem 2016.

Various cooperation protocols have been signed between ASFC and many other authorities since 2014. In 2014 a cooperation protocol signed between ASFC and Science &Technology Exploration Centers in Egypt. In 2015, a protocol of cooperation between the Mycological

9 Society of Romania and Arab Society for Fungal Conservation was signed in Iasi, Romania. Recently, in 2016 and 2017 similar protocols signed with the Korean Society of Mycology in Korea, Minnesota Mycological Society in the United States of America and National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries (Annex, 17).

F igure (7): Declaration of the Egypt’ National Fungus Day in B ibliotheca Alexandrina © Abdel-Azeem 2016.

3.9 Abdel-Azeem (2014) published an article on a good candidate for International Fungus Day and due to his national and international efforts to conserve fungi, ASFC declared the 20th of February 2016 as Egypt’s National Fungus Day in Bibliotheca Alexandria (See Web Pages section) (Fig. 7) which supported and accepted by many international societies and mycologists e.g. the Convention on Biological Diversity (See Web Pages section for event documentation).

3.10 The First International Conference on Fungal Conservation in the Middle East and North of Africa (ICFC-2016) has been organized by the Arab Society for Fungal Conservation (ASFC) at Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt from 18th till 20th of October 2016 (see annex, 5d). Conference Chairman was Prof Moustafa Fouda (Minister Advisor on biodiversity, Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency) and the Conference General Secretary was Dr Prof Ahmed M. Abdel-Azeem (Annex, 18). The conference was held under the auspices of the Suez Canal University. This conference (Fig. 8) was the first one in the MENA region pertaining to Fungal Conservation and aimed to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results about all aspects of fungal conservation. It provided the first interdisciplinary forum for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns, practical challenges encountered and the solutions adopted in the field of fungal conservation. The theme of Conference is “Bioprospecting vs. Conservation” with 15 topics. About 200 participants belonged to seven countries were participated in the conference they were from United Kingdom, France, Germany, India, Kuwait, Iran and Egypt. Plenary speakers were Dr David Minter (President of International Society for Fungal Conservation, UK; Dr Jean Mouchacca (Natural History Museum, Paris, France), Prof. Gerhard Kost (Philipps University of Marburg, Germany), Dr Prof. Azza Al-Musallam (Kuwait

10 University, Kuwait), Dr Prof. Ahmed M. Abdel-Azeem (Suez Canal University, Egypt), Dr Prof Mona F. Kaiser (Suez Canal University, Egypt) and Dr Prof Michael Weiss (Steinbeis Innovation Center, Germany).

Figure (8): Closing ceremony of the First Intenational Conference on Fungal Conservation in MENA, Egypt 2016 © Abdel-Azeem 2016.

3.11 As Abdel-Azeem participated in the preparation of the National Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity Conservation, he recommended the five following interventions:

1- Understanding and documentation of fungal diversity. 2- Conserving fungal diversity. 3- Using fungal diversity sustainability. 4- Promoting education and awareness about fungal diversity. 5- Building capacity.

4. Status of Fungal Conservation in Egypt

One of the most important fungal conservation steps is update your information concerning what are you going to conserve. How many species of fungi are there in Egypt? That is our important question! As cited in the Fifth Egyptian National Report of CBD (see annex, 10), Abdel-Azeem and Salem made more revision and updating to the previous mycological work, and recorded 2422 Egyptian taxa - in comparison to El-Abyad (1997) and Abdel-Azeem (2010), who had recorded 1246 and 2181 species respectively. On the kingdom level, Fungi came first by 1964 species followed by Chromistan fungal analogues (186) and Protozoan fungal analogues (61) respectively. The Ascomycota form the single largest group within this checklist, with about 1563 species, of which about 157 are lichen-forming, and about 1000 are known only from their conidial (asexual) states, 89 belonging to Chytridiomycota, 27 to Blastocladiomycota, 70 to Zygomycota, 47 to Glomeromycota, and 222 to Basidiomycota.

11 In Egypt, the impact of human activities on fungal diversity is unquantified, and the need of fungal conservation is often ignored. Some threats can already be identified; loss of habitat, medicinal plants over-collection, climate change, growth of human population/urbanisation, the Nile’s river pollution, continuous bioprospecting in the harsh ecosystems (desert, salt marshes, etc.). Other threats doubtless exist. Egypt, as a pioneer country in NA in fungal conservation, is an important example in explaining the wealth of fungi found there, but it is also an indication that fungal conservation needs encouragement and funding so that surveying, systematic exploration can be carried out, inventories made, and more updated checklists produced. In most cases, however, the lack or shortage of information about diversity of Egyptian fungi and populations sets conservation status evaluations as either “not evaluated” or “data deficient”. Recently all the aforementioned steps were applied for conservation of fungi in Egypt through various activities and by applying conservation steps proposed by Moore et al. (2001) they were: 1- by conserving the habitats of some national parks in Egypt (e.g., Saint Katherine Protectorate) through volunteers, 2- in situ conservation of rare and endangered desert plants reserves as microhabitats for fungi, (e.g. truffles awareness campaigns with local Bedouin tribes) and, 3- ex situ conservation for saprobic and facultative pathogenic taxa in the new Fungarium (culture -collection to preserve different species of fungi, versus to the conventional herbariums - as mentioned before) of Suez Canal University established by Abdel-Azeem and his co-workers.

One example of Egyptian fungi that needs conservation is desert truffles. Truffles undoubtedly, are of commercial importance, especially in North Africa (Trappe, 1971). The popularity of the highly prized truffles is due to their constituents of essential nutrients. Bedouins usually use truffles as a substitute for meat. Due to Arab spring movements in three NA countries (Tunisia, Egypt, Libya) and their effects on the economic level of their populations, truffles were over-collected as a source of income (Soliman, 2012; Abdel-Azeem and Salem, 2013b) and their threatened condition were studied (Soliman, 2012; Abdel-Azeem and Salem, 2013c). In order to maintain and improve their strategic importance, habitat preservation is applied in situ (e.g. conservation of truffles though awareness campaigns with local Bedouin tribes have been carried by Abdel-Azeem’s team in Sidi Barani desert near the boarder line of Libya).

Conclusion

The biodiversity and conservation of fungi and public perceptions in NA especially in Egypt remains very low, and more education on fungal conservation is urgently needed. This work has to be considered as an important contribution to the nature conservation program in Egypt. One important theme is the sustainable use of fungal resources, enforcement of legislations and conventions concerning the fungal diversity in different habitats in Egypt. Environmental education is an important point in the activity concerning fungi conservation and application of appropriate protected area management systems. There is a need to separate fungi from plant kingdom in educational courses in Egypt and to integrate mycodiversity and fungal conservation into the science (biology) and environmental curricula and extra-curricular activities. Egyptian mycologists carry the responsibility to discuss these issues and communicate with public and politicians. This is a very heavy burden, as even the majority of scientists deny the true importance of fungi and their essential role in the conservation, recycling and protection of biomes. A hard mission for the Egyptian mycologist is to get the attention of national politicians and decision makers and is even more difficult as national legislation is strongly focused on protecting of plants and animal and ignoring 'orphans of Rio'. Egypt’s Mycologists Network (EMN) founded by Abdel-Azeem in 2016 (Fungi of Egypt - Network) is a structured network of Egyptian mycologists with a steering committee to guide and promote best practices

12 and to solve such problems through collaboration between decision makers, mycologists, fungal conservation societies/ individual enthusiasts, national protectorates and environmental agencies.

Acknowledgement

This work has been made possible only through the invaluable support of the first author’s undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Suez Canal University. We extend gratitude to the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) – for the advancement of science in developing countries; the Cybertruffle Foundation; The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD); Habiba Organic Farm; Pakistan Science Mission (PSM); Prof Ishrak K. Khafagi and Dr Soad Hussein; The Egyptian Desert Research Center (DRC); Technology, Innovation, and Commercialization Office (TICO) of the Suez Canal University; The Suez Canal University; The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund; The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the International Society for Fungal Conservation (ISFC); all who have provided immense support for our emerging society in Egypt and North Africa till it stood on its feet. Many thanks to Gihan S. Soliman for the critical reading and linguistic review of the paper.

Literature Cited

Abdel-Azeem, A.M. 2010. The history, fungal biodiversity, conservation, and future perspectives for mycology in Egypt. IMA Fungus 1(2): 123–142. Abdel-Azeem, A.M. 2011. Saving the forgotten Kingdom in Egypt. Fungal Conservation (1): 40-44. Abdel-Azeem, A.M. 2014. A good candidate for International Fungus Day. Fungal Conservation 1(4), 19-20. Abdel-Azeem, A.M.; Minter, D.W. 2011. The Rio Convention and Fungi: a review of recent national biodiversity action plans and reports. Fungal Conservation (1): 29-32. Abdel-Azeem, A.M.; Salem, F.M. 2013a. A checklist of Egyptian fungi: I. Protozoan fungal analogues. Mycosphere 4(4), 794-807. Abdel-Azeem, A.M.; Salem, F.M. 2013b. Arab society for fungal conservation in Egypt. Fungal Conservation 1(3), 11-14. Abdel-Azeem, A.M.; Salem, F.M. 2013c. Fungal Conservation in Northern Africa and the Arab Society for Fungal Conservation. Third International Congress on Fungal Conservation, Akyaka, Mugla, Turkey, 11-15 November 2013. Abstract book: 19. Abdel-Azeem, A.M.; Salem, F.M. 2015. Fungi fimicola Aegyptiaci: I. Recent investigations and conservation in arid South Sinai. Mycosphere 6(2), 174-194. Abdel-Azeem, A.M.; Soliman, G.S. 2011a. Fungal conservation and Encyclopedia of Life in Egypt. Sixteen Congress of European Mycologist, 19-23 September 2011, Porto Carras on the Sithonia peninsula, Greece. Abstract book: 64-66. Abdel-Azeem, A.M.; Salem, F.M; Mohamed, H.M.; Rashad, H.M.; Mohamed, R.M.; Khalil, W.F. 2012. Bioprospecting of Egyptian Fungi for Ecological and Medical Applications. TWAS-ARO 8th meeting, Bibilotheca Alexandrina, December 30-31. Abdel-Azeem, A.M.; Mohamed, A.H.; Minter, D.W.; Salem, F.M.; Soliman, G.S. 2013. Fungi and Encyclopedia of life: Abdel-Azeem's team contributions to English and arabic EOL. First Young Researcher Conference, Suez Canal university, Ismailia, 6-7 march 2013. Abstract book: 31. Aldred, C. 1971. Jewels of The Pharaoh: Egyptian Jewelry of the Dynastic Period. Praeger Publishers, New York, PI. 68, p. 210. Bass, D. and Richards, T.A. 2011. Three reasons to re-evaluate fungal diversity ‘on Earth and in the ocean’. Fungal biology reviews 25 (4): 159.-164.

13 Berlant, S.R. 2005. The entheomycological origin of Egyptian crowns and the esoteric underpinnings of Egyptian religion. Journal of Ethnopharmacology· DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2005.07.028. Boston Museum of Fine Arts. 1982. Egypt’s Golden Age, the Art of Living in the New Kingdom, 1558–1085 B.C. Catalogue of the Exhibition. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. El-Abyad, M.S. 1997. Biodiversity of Fungal Biota in Egypt. Up-dated check-list. Publication of National Biodiversity Unit No. 7. Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency. El-Abyad, M.S.; Abu-Taleb, A. 1993. II-Soil Fungi. Ecology of fungal flora. In: Publication of National Biodiversity Unit. No. 1. Habitat Diversity: 237–262. Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, Egypt. Hawksworth, D.L. 1991. The fungal dimension of biodiversity: magnitude, significance, and conservation. Mycological Research 95: 641–655 Hawksworth, D.L. 1997. Orphans in “botanical” diversity. Muelleria 10: 111–123. Hawksworth, D.L. 2001. The magnitude of fungal diversity: the 1.5 million species estimate revisited. Mycological Research 105: 1422–1432. Kirk, P.; Cannon, P.F.; Minter, D.W.; Stalpers, J.A. 2008. Ainsworth & Bisby’s Dictionary of the Fungi. 10th edn. CAB International, Wallingford, UK. Leake, C.D. 1952. The Old Egyptian medical papyri. University of Kansas press. Minter, D.W. 2010. Conservation of fungi: the orphans of the Rio de Janeiro Convention. In: The First International Conference on Basic and applied Mycology, 9–11 March 2010, Assiut, Egypt, pp. 22–23. Moore, D.; Nauta, M.M.; Evans, S.E.; Rotheroe, M. 2001. Fungal conservation issues: recognizing the problem, finding solutions. In: Moore D, Nauta MM, Evans SE, Rotheroe M (eds) Fungal conservation: issues and solutions. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, p 1-6. Moustafa, A.F. 2006. Fungi of Egypt. Zygomycetes. AUMC Descriptions, No. 1. Assiut. Moustafa, A.F. and Abdel-Azeem, A.M. 2011. An annotated check-list of Ascomycota reported from soil and other terricolous substrates in Egypt. Journal of Basic and Applied Mycology. 2: 1-27. Nafady, N.; Abdel-Azeem, A.M.; Salem, F.M. 2016. A checklist of Egyptian fungi: II. Golmeromycota. Microbial Biosystems 1(1), 40-49. Soliman, E.A. ; Abdel-Azeem, A.M.; Salem, F.M. ; Nafady, N.A; Mehesien, M.T.; Ahmed, A.I.S. ; Ibrahim, M. E.; Abdel-Azeem, M.A.; Hassan, S.S. 2016. A taxonomic analysis of miscellaneous fungi collected and described from Egypt till 1931. Studies in Fungi 1(1): 11-33. Soliman, G.S. 2011a. Biodiversity and Conservation of Fungi in Egypt (in Arabic). Available at [http://ahramag.com/modules/publisher/item.php?itemid=965] (accessed on 5 February 2017). Soliman, G.S. 2011b. Survey of fungal and environmental awareness amongst Egyptian school children. Fungal Conservation (1). pp. 7, 8. International Society for Fungal Conservation. Soliman, G.S. 2013. Cybernetics and fungal conservation: an interdisciplinary approach to management of fungal conservation using desert truffles as an example. International Society for Fungal Conservation. Third International Congress on Fungal Conservation. Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University Gökova Bay, Akyaka, Muğla, Turkey, November 2013. Programme and Abstracts book. p. 48. Available at [www.fungal- conservation.org/icfc3/isfc3_programme_and_abstracts.pdf]. accessed on 5 February 2017. Soliman, G.S. 2015. An overview of the role of fungi in the dynamics of soil fertility and structure. Sustainability Cybernetics Journal. 1 (1): 1. International-Curricula Educators Association.

14 Soliman, G.S. and Abdel-Azeem, A.M. 2011a. What will be the fate of the world's fungi? Earthsky. EarthSky. Available at [http://earthsky.org/biodiversity/what-will-be-the-fate-of-the- worlds-fungi], accessed on 31 January 2017. Soliman, G.S. and Abdel Azeem, A.M. 2011b. Science Across Egypt© Project Nature's Soapboxscience. Available at [http://blogs.nature.com/soapboxscience/2011/10/19/science-across-egypt-project]. accessed on 5 February 2017. Söderström, L.; Urmi E.; Váňa, J. 2007. The distribution of Hepaticae and Anthocerotae in Europe and Macaronesia- Update 1–427. Cryptogamie, Bryologie 28, 299–350. Söderström, L.; Hagborg, A.; von Konrat, M.; Renner, M.A.M. 2008. Early Land Plants Today: Liverwort checklist of checklists. Fieldiana, Botany, n.s. 47, 105–130. Trappe, J.M. 1971. A Synopsis of the Carbomycetaceae and Terfeziaceae (Tuberales). Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc., 57: 85-92. Deguignet, M.; Juffe-Bignoli, D.; Harrison, J.; MacSharry, B.; Burgess, N.; Kingston, N. 2014. United Nations List of Protected Areas. UNEP-WCMC: Cambridge, UK. Available at [ http://worldparkscongress.org/drupal/sites/default/files/documents/docs/2014%20UN%20List%2 0of%20Protected%20Areas%20EN%20web.pdf]. Accessed on 5 February 2017).

Annex:

Web Pages: [1] Academy of Science and Scientific Research (ASRT). Available at [http://www.asrt.sci.eg].Last accessed on 12/02/2017. [2] Bibliotheca Alexandria http://www.bibalex.org/en/events/eventdetails?id=47719 (Accessed on 05/03/2016) [3] Cybertruffles Robigalia - Arabic Section [http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/robigalia/ara] (Accessed on 05/02/2017). [http://www.cybertruffle.org.uk/cybernome/ara/index.htm] (Accessed on 15 /01/2017) [4] Encyclopedia of Life http://eol.org/info/175 (Accessed on 05/02/2017). [5] Fungi of Egypt [5a] http://fungiofegypt.com/20Feb/ (Accessed on 05/02/2017). [5b] http://fungiofegypt.com/ASFC.html (Accessed on 05/02/2017). [5c] http://fungiofegypt.com/Network/ (Accessed on 12/03/2016). [5d] http://fungiofegypt.com/Conference/2016/)(Accessed 05/02/2017). [6] Ministry of Environment (MOE) Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) [http://www.eeaa.gov.eg/English/main/protect_bio.asp] (Accessed on 15/11/2014) [7] Nature's Soapbox Science http://blogs.nature.com/soapboxscience/2011/10/19/science-across-egypt-project (Accessed on 05/02/2017). [8] The Micheli Guide to Fungal Conservation [http://www.fungal-conservation.org/micheli.htm] (Accessed on 05/02/2017) [9] The IMA in Egypt, Part 1: Science in the Sand [http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/tag/abydos-middle-cemetery/] (Accessed on 04/04/ 2016) [10] the Fifth Egyptian National Report of CBD (https://www.cbd.int/doc/world/eg/eg-nr- 05-en.pdf), [11] The Mohamed bin Zayed Conservation Fund [http://www.speciesconservation.org] (Accessed on 05/02/2017)

15 [12] World Atlas. World Map. Africa. Egypt. Where is Egypt. Available at [http://www.worldatlas.com/af/eg/where-is-egypt.html]. Accessed on 12/02/2017. [13] United Nations Decade on Biodiversity – Egyptian Fungus Day https://www.cbd.int/doc/world/eg/eg-nr-05-en.pdf (Accessed on 05/02/2016) https://www.cbd.int/doc/speech/2016/sp-2016-02-20-egypt-fungi-en.pdf (Accessed on 12 March 2016). [14] United Nations (2016). http://unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#africa (accessed on 5 February 2016). [15] United Nations' Convention on Biological Biodiversity available at [https://www.cbd.int/reports/]. Last accessed on 11/02/2017. [16] World Data Centre for Micro-organisms (WDCM) Cultural Collections Information Worldwide. Available at [http://www.wfcc.info/ccinfo/collection/by_country] Last accessed on 12/02/2017. Report on the – معھد علوم البحار باإلسكندرية يوقع بروتوكول تعاون مع الجمعية العربية للفطريات [17] cooperation protocol in Alwatan News national paper. Available at [http://www.elwatannews.com/news/details/1841069]. Accessed on 12/02/17. Report on the conference – مؤتمر بجامعة قناة السويس يحذر:التغيرات المناخية تقتل الفطريات المصرية [18] in Ahram national paper. Available at [http://www.ahram.org.eg/NewsQ/563676.aspx]. Accessed on 12/02/17.