Media releases

Release date: May 2003

Sir David Attenborough launches Digital Noah’s Ark

Sir David Attenborough launched ARKive at a special event in Bristol attended by supporters from leading conservation groups, the wildlife film industry, scientists, environmentalist and media donors from around the world.

Described as a 21st Century Noah's Ark, ARKive is leading the virtual conservation effort. It is harnessing the latest in digital technology to bring together, for the first time, the world's most important nature films, photographs, sound recordings, and memories, then using them to build vivid and fact-backed portraits of Earth's endangered plants and animals. The project's aim is to provide a permanent safe haven for the records, and the insights they offer, and to make the best of the collection globally accessible, for pleasure, learning and research, via a free, click-and-view website - www.arkive.org

At a special launch event in the afternoon Sir David thanked a group of local school children that have helped test Planet ARKive, the children's zone that repackages the information from the main site for 7-11 years olds to make nature learning a wildly enjoyable experience. There is also a site for educators where anyone from teachers to parents can download free resources to help teach children about the richness and diversity of our natural world, whilst examining the causes that threaten it.

Sir David said of ARKive "Over the past few decades a vast treasury of wildlife images has been steadily accumulating, yet no one has known its full extent - or its gaps - and no one has had a comprehensive way of getting access to it. ARKive will put that right. It will become an invaluable tool for all concerned with the well-being of the natural world."

ARKive is an initiative of The Wildscreen Trust, an educational charity working to raise conservation awareness by encouraging and applauding excellence in wildlife film-making and related media. The £3m project is wildly supported by the worlds leading conservationists and environmentalists and was funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and New Opportunities Fund, with Hewlett Packard providing technical research, support and hardware.

The launch is only the beginning with around 600 species onboard, although this will rise to 1,000 by the end of the year with work continuing to include the 11,000 animals and plant species threatened with extinction.

Visit:
www.arkive.org
www.planetarkive.org
www.arkiveeducation.org

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