For over a decade, humans have been responsible for over 60% of mangrove loss. It painted a painful picture of the possibility of losing more mangroves and the ability to restore them. However, great efforts in restoration, replanting, and conservation had made these past few years. With this, there has been a slow decline in the loss of mangrove forests globally. One of these efforts is Minecraft’s newest addition of mangroves in their latest update.
The Wild Update: Mangrove Forests
June 2022 – In the Overworld, Minecraft finally reveals that they are adding mangroves in their newest The Wild update. This was in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental organization. They aim to spread awareness and raise funds for the protection and restoration of mangrove forests. Minecraft’s developer, Mojang Studios will be donating $200,000 to this cause. By adding mangroves to Overworld, it reaches a wide range of audiences of different ages. Hopefully, it will encourage and interest people in protecting a vital part of our habitat.
In this new update, Minecraft adds a mangrove swamp wherein it includes towering trees, wide roots, small saplings, and muddy terrain. In addition, cutting down of mangrove trees used as planks, stairs, buttons, slabs, fences, doors, signs, and pressure plates. Moreover, just like in real life, discovering these mangrove swamps that are full of wildlife and fauna still awaits.
Minecraft features Oceanus Conservation
In announcing this huge news, Minecraft featuring Oceanus is a great honor to us as we share and shed light on the state of mangroves in the Philippines and its importance to us, especially as a natural disaster-prone archipelagic country. Typhoon Rai (Super Typhoon Odette) affected 7.3 million people after passing by the Philippines last year. However, there was an area surrounded by mangroves that were fortunate enough to be unaffected by the typhoon’s devastation. It is with this in mind that we see to it that mangrove forests are restored in the Philippines in order to help out coastal communities and eventually, the whole country.
With Minecraft’s call to action for mangrove conservation and restoration, it can spark passion and interest in the younger generations to find the importance of mangroves in our world. Together, we can build a better world by taking action because we have the knowledge and power to induce such a change.
To learn more about mangroves in Minecraft, you can watch our feature here. Together, we aim to encourage and inspire people to take action and advocate for the protection of our mangrove habitats. Read more about our projects and support us!
Minecraft Mangroves: Building a Better World
Co-author: Avelyn Domingo