ARKive wins �0.5m NOF grant to give endangered wildlife a digital haven

ARKive - the pioneering on-line library of wildlife sounds and images - is to get almost �0.5m from the UK�s New Opportunities Fund (NOF) to add digital profiles of the world�s most threatened species to its globally accessible databank.

News of the �495,000 award prompted celebrations at the library�s HQ, in central Bristol, where work is already underway on building an electronic refuge for around 1,000 British species. Spokeswoman, Harriet Nimmo said: It�s a wonderful boost, not just for ARKive but for the people of all ages who need to know more about wildlife in danger. At last our dream of creating a digital Noah�s Ark for the on-line generation is coming true.

The new money will be used to find and bring together photographs, moving images, sound recordings and background information on 500 species most at risk world-wide, including the tiny jewelled golden toad of Costa Rica (last seen in the wild more than 10 years ago), the black lion tamarin, a tiny primate with less than 1000 left in the world, and the single Spix macaw left living on its own in the wilds of Brazil.

Harriet Nimmo explained: Our research tells us there is a vast and valuable body of scientific and historical images and recordings of threatened species - but it is scattered around the world, among owners who don�t always appreciate its conservation worth and added to which much of it is inaccessible to the public.

Thanks to the NOF grant, we will be able to make an immediate start on sourcing,  collating and making it possible for all sorts of groups and individuals to share the most important images and sounds simply by logging on to the web.

ARKive is an initiative of The Wildscreen Trust, an educational charity committed to encouraging greater public understanding of the natural world and the need to conserve it.

Other funding for ARKive includes a grant of �1.6m from the UK Heritage Lottery Fund, and �1.5m research and development support from Hewlett Packard Labs (Europe).

As well as being the world�s first on-line library of endangered species, the project is also breaking technological ground. Inventors at Hewlett Packard Labs are developing new ways to capture, store, retrieve and track the website�s content, so that it remains easy to use but protects copyright.

Another innovative feature of the ARKive website is that the data will be �layered�, offering information in different formats for a range of user-groups, from the youngest schoolchild to the scientific expert.

An experimental site is viewable now at www.arkive.org.uk. The full site is due to go live at the start of 2002 .

The ARKive team remains keen to hear from individuals or organisations with wildlife films, photographs, sound effects or books which may be of use to the site. To discuss, contact ARKive at The Wildscreen Trust, telephone +44 (0)117 915 7100, or e-mail:. [email protected]

FOR FURTHER INFO

Harriet Nimmo, ARKive Project Manager
Tel: +44 (0)117 915 7103
e-mail: [email protected]

NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS

1. ARKive is an initiative of The Wildscreen Trust, a registered charity founded in 1987. The charity also runs the international natural history film and television festival, WILDSCREEN, held biennially in Bristol since 1982.  The Trust is based at Wildwalk@Bristol - one of two important new visitor attractions which opened at Harbourside, Bristol, with the support of the Millennium Commission, in 2000.

2. In addition to developing its on-line library, ARKive is also building a traditional reference library of films and books which visitors can view.   Images from the collections can be provided electronically, to accompany articles about ARKive. To arrange, please contact Harriet Nimmo (see above).