# Online game aims to save rainforests

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2004/11/24/online-game-aims-save-rainforests/
- Published: 2004-11-24T08:52:15+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

A challenging new online computer game designed to raise awareness of the impending
destruction of the world’s second largest rainforest has gone live. ‘Raiders of 
the Lost Bark,’ released by the Rainforest Foundation [1], invites players to dodge
fast-rolling logs, avoid flying chainsaws, leap across burning forests… and stop
the carve-up of the Congo’s rainforests.

 

 

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In a cutting edge approach to campaigning, the Rainforest Foundation has enlisted
the latest technology in its efforts to call on the World Bank to save the world’s
last great rainforest frontier in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). [2]

 

 

 

![Raiders of the Lost Bark](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/files/u11/raiders_ofthe_lostbark.
jpg "Raiders of the Lost Bark")

 

 

 

When players finish the game they are invited to take real life action and send 
an email to World Bank President James Wolfensohn, asking him to halt proposed industrial
logging in the country and develop alternatives to benefit the 35 million people[
3] living in and around the forest who depend on it for their survival. [4]

 

 

 

“We wanted to take a very serious issue and make it interactive and so engaging 
that people would want to take action,” said Rob Daly, Rainforest Foundation Fundraising
Manager. “The internet also offers a low-cost, paper-less medium for reaching people.”

 

 

 

Within days of its release, ‘Raiders of the Lost Bark’ made the Top 10 list on Kontraband.
com, a leading online entertainment website. It is also being launched through Freeloader.
com.

 

 

 

"While it is too early to ascertain the full results of the campaign, website daily
visits have increased three-fold over last month’s average," said Rob Daly, "and
a staggering 15-fold compared to the daily average for 2003."

 

 

 

Log on to ‘Raiders of the Lost Bark’ at www.rainforestfoundation.org.uk/s-games.

 

 

 

-ends-

 

 

 

Contact:

 

 

 

Rob Daly 020 7251 6345 ro**@**********uk.com

 

 

 

Rosemary Brown 020 7251 6345 ro*******@**********uk.com

 

 

 

[1] The Rainforest Foundation UK supports indigenous people and traditional populations
of the world’s rainforests in their efforts to protect their environment and fulfil
their rights.

 

 

 

[2] The World Bank is supporting plans that would open up 60 million hectares – 
an area the size of France – to industrial logging.

 

 

 

[3] According to the Bank’s own estimates, as many as 35 million of the Congo’s 
50 million people depend on the forests for their very survival.

 

 

 

[4] For background information on the campaign to stop the carve-up of the Congo
Rainforests, visit www.rainforestfoundation.org.uk/s-Campaign News.