MINECRAFT
“ROOTED TOGETHER”

Mangrove trees have a bit of a PR problem. Unlike coral reefs, rainforests or honeybees, mangroves don’t have the largest following of passionate activists screaming their name. They are the unsung heroes of conservation. Together with Minecraft, we launched Rooted Together initiative to change that.

PART 1: Growing an audience

Rooted Together started with a short documentary intent on creating awareness of the invaluable ecosystem services that mangrove trees provide our planet. The documentary introduced the next generation of climate activists to the most important tree they’ve probably never heard of.

PART 2: Visualizing environmental impact & DRIVING ACTION

To compliment the documentary, a free-to-download, custom Minecraft game was developed. The game allows players to experience the wonder of a restored mangrove forest by helping them visualize 50 years of environmental progress in just 50 minutes. The more mangroves players plant in the game, the lower the CO2 levels get thanks to mangroves’ ability to sequester up to 3X more carbon than rainforests. Gradually, players’ efforts encourage wildlife to return and displaced villagers to come back home.

PART 3: Making environmental impact

To highlight the types of The Nature Conservancy efforts that benefited from the Minecraft Community’s donations, we profiled Zulfa Hassan and the Mtangawanda Women’s Association. Zulfa “Mother Mangrove” Hassan is a community organizer and conservationist who leads 30 women in the rehabilitation of degraded mangrove forests in Lamu County, Kenya.

PART 4: PASSING THE KNOWLEDGE ON

To teach the next generation of climate activists about the role of mangrove trees in climate change mitigation and adaptation, we created a lesson plan for 5th-grade teachers in partnership with Minecraft Education, featuring our custom game Rooted Together.