Science is taking the fight against climate change underground—literally.

The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks is on a mission to uncover the mysteries of the vast fungal networks found in the soil under our feet. We know that there’s an underground network comprised of fungi connected to plant roots that helps trees to share and recycle nutrients, as well as store CO2 in the soil.

Unfortunately, not much is known about this massive fungal network, known as the Wood Wide Web, nor the role it plays in fighting climate change, but scientists are determined to map and preserve the network to better understand it and to bring underground conservation to the fore.

Over the next 18 months, local mycologists or “myconauts” will work to collect 10,000 samples to create a global map of fungal hotspots. Machine learning will then fill in the blanks to construct a picture of the function of fungal networks and how they act as carbon sinks.

This project is the beginning of an “underground climate movement” to defend “this ancient life support system,” said professor of evolutionary biology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Toby Kiers.

The fungal network needs our protection because it is constantly threatened by agricultural expansion, the use of fertilizers and pesticides, deforestation, and urbanization. Experts estimate that five billion tons of carbon dioxide absorbed from the air is locked into the soil with the help of fungal networks, but this number could be at least three times higher.

“If we lose this system, this is going to have really serious consequences for our ability to fight climate change,” Prof. Kiers told the BBC, adding that the fungi are “the invisible ecosystem engineers and their loss is totally undocumented.”