ARKive – a centralised global library of films and photographs of endangered species, is freely accessible to all via the Internet. Based and run from Bristol, it is hailed as the International Noah’s Ark of the 21st Century and has won numerous awards and accolades. The most famous names in wildlife film making, major broadcasters (including Bristol’s BBC Natural History unit), the biggest film and photo libraries and leading academic institutions collaborate and donate copies of their records to ARKive. Films and photographs are one of the most emotive and powerful means of raising public awareness, and ARKive utilises this to convey the conservation message to some 25,000 visitors a day from over 170 countries.
More than 2000 species have now been ARKived, but this is just the start: There are more than 16,000 species threatened with extinction world-wide and ARKive’s priority is to complete film and image records of these as quickly as possible, in order to raise awareness of the fragile existence of these species, and thereby promote conservation action to help ensure their long-term survival.
ARKive is being created by Wildscreen , the organisers of the international Wildscreen Film Festival.