Washington, U.S.A. - A game with a difference is being launched this week: Players can ruin the world or save our planet by opting for choices based on real-world data that has not been publicly available so far. The Facebook game aims to mobilise people to demand action rather than just talk from the Rio+20 summit in June.

Game Change Rio offers a great way to engage with the complexities facing our planet today. “Once more of us begin to understand the issues involved, we have a better chance of changing the game,” said Hans Herren, winner of the World Food Prize in 1995, and one of the initiators of the game.

Some 20 years ago, the Earth Summit, the United Nations Conference held in Rio de Janeiro, sounded the alarm on the future of our planet. Very little has happened since and Rio+20 was called to address global inertia and make change happen after all. But this follow-up summit is up against many vested interests and only with strong public pressure, is there hope for a game change.

“We developed ‘Game Change Rio’ to get the message to people we might not reach through other channels,” Herren said. To make it truly global, the game is available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish. A trip to the Rio summit awaits the player with the highest score and additional prizes will go to weekly champions.

Game Change Rio gives access to real-world data that so far has only been available to experts and policy makers. Based on the Millennium Institute’s Green Economy Model, which was commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the game includes all relevant sectors of the world’s economy and the natural resources available. All of these elements are linked and effects of policies are seen in their full complexity. The model has over 5,000 indicators, and with the 125 policy cards developed, the game has over 100 million possible outcomes.

Game Change Rio, the idea of Biovision – Foundation for ecological Development, CodeSustainable and the Millennium Institute, aims to raise awareness for the issues that need to be addressed if future generations are to enjoy life on this planet and goes on to propose solutions to the problems we are facing.

To play the game, for further information, interview opportunities and pictures, please go to Gamechangerio.org.

Image Courtesy of   Game Change Rio

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