Britain's Prince Charles launched an internet campaign yesterday to boost awareness of the need to protect tropical rainforests, with a short film starring the Dalai Lama, Pele and Harrison Ford.

In a 90-second film shown on MySpace, the prince, the Tibetan spiritual leader, the footballer and the actor appear alongside a computer-generated green frog as they urge action against deforestation to tackle climate change.

Prince Charles' two sons, William and Harry, comedian Robin Williams, actor Daniel Craig and singer Joss Stone also feature in the film, part of a new campaign from the Prince's Rainforest Project.

Charles, the heir to the British throne, is thought to be the first senior royal to broadcast on a social networking website, and he urged viewers to join him in creating an online community in support of the Earth's rainforests.

"One of the internet's strengths is that it can enable diverse communities to come together to ensure that everybody's views and actions can really be made to count," he said in a webcast to launch the video.

He added: "Our aim, with your help, is to build an online community to call, from the bottom up, for urgent action to protect the rainforests, without which we will most certainly lose the battle against catastrophic climate change."

The campaign has developed accompanying software to allow supporters to create their version of the film, and appear alongside the stars and the frog.

Speaking during a live podcast from London on Tuesday evening, Prince Charles joked that he was "aware princes and frogs have a long association".

The film appears on www.rainforestSOS.org, a site created by Blue State Digital, the firm that helped US President Barack Obama with his online election campaign.

The Prince's Rainforest Project was set up in 2007 to promote awareness of the need to tackle tropical deforestation, a cause of climate change.