Endophytic Fungi: Strategic Allies for Enhancing Plant Resilience to Drought

Drought is one of the most pressing environmentalchallenges of our time, affecting millions of people andecosystems worldwide. Currently, hyper-arid zones cover6.6% of the Earth’s land surface, arid zones 10.6%, semi-aridzones 15.2%, and dry sub-humid zones 8.7%, highlighting theglobal scale of drought (Javed et al. 2022). Since 1970, weather,climate, and water-related disasters have accounted for 50%of all recorded disasters, resulting in 45% of reported deathsduring the same period (WMO, 2021). Between 1900 and thepresent, over 11 million deaths and 2 billion people have beenaffected by drought, making it the natural phenomenon withthe greatest human impact (WMO, 2020). This crisis has beenexacerbated by a dramatic increase in drought-affected areasover the past 40 years. Initiatives to counter this trend, whilepromising, remain insufficient. For instance, the FAO (Food andAgriculture Organisation) recommends restoring one billionhectares of ecosystem by 2030. However, with only 6 millionhectares reforested annually during the 2010s, this pace fallsfar short of the need (Duponnois 2023). The Mediterraneanregion is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climatechange, with an increased frequency of prolonged droughtepisodes and extreme weather events (Guillot et al. 2019).These conditions impact not only soil moisture and vegetationgrowth but also water resources, as evidenced by recentrestrictions implemented in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco.Above-average temperatures, combined with prolonged waterdeficits, have also had visible effects, notably in North Africa,the Mediterranean islands, and coastal areas of the IberianPeninsula. Furthermore, Italy’s snow water equivalent hasdecreased significantly, which will negatively impact riverflows in spring and summer 2024 (Toreti et al. 2024). In theface of this emergency, it is essential to mobilise innovativeapproaches, such as the use of endophytic fungi, to strengthenthe resilience of forest ecosystems and improve tree toleranceto water stress...