As we survey the landscape of environment and development challenges facing the world at the beginning of the 21st century, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the scope and depth of these problems. The problems that threaten people’s livelihoods are global, incremental, and irreversible – climate change, biodiversity loss, desertification, forest destruction, and growing stress on freshwater resources. These interrelated trends are tearing at the environmental web of life and threatening human well-being.
Remedies aimed at symptoms and attempts to protect small patches of our Earth will not work for long. Solutions that deny people’s legitimate needs and aspirations are untenable in the face of vast disparities between rich and poor, connected and disenfranchised. The future will demand the institutions, policies, knowledge, and alliances necessary to implement solutions that are global and fair.
Not only do these problems have broad, transboundary impacts, they are, by their nature, extraordinarily complex, politically contentoius, and economically demanding. Solutions will require the involvement of and approval by a wide range of interests, both public and private.
Our goals
For over 20 years, the World Resources Institute has demonstrated its commitment to helping find solutions to these enormous global environmental challenges. WRI’s work is concentrated on making progress toward five goals:
- Healthy Ecosystems.Reverse rapid degradation of ecosystems and assure their capacity to provide humans with needed goods and services
- Stable Climate. Protect the global climate system from further harm due to emissions of greenhouse gases and help humanity and the natural world adapt to unavoidable climate change
- Sustainable Enterprise. Harness markets and enterprise to expand economic opportunity and protect the environment
- Access to Environmental Information and Decisions. Guarantee public access to information and decisions regarding natural resources and the environment
- Institutional Excellence. Support and enhance WRI’s ability to achieve results
How we work
WRI’s strength is our ability to catalyze permanent change through partnerships that implement innovative, incentive-based solutions that are founded upon hard, objective data. And we know that harnessing the power of markets will ensure real, not cosmetic change. Therefore, WRI’s strategy rests on three pillars:
- Research. WRI provides the scientific and analytical underpinning so necessary to move people and their institutions, both public and private, to the difficult decisions that lead to change.
- Partners. WRI works closely with governments, the private sector, and civil society groups around the world to enhance our collective ability to catalyze permanent change.
- Results. Providing authoritative research, getting it to those who need it, and engaging a broad spectrum of stakeholders in decision-making are all means to the ultimate end: permanent changes that protect the planet and improve people’s lives.
This report highlights ways in which our research, partnerships, and results have contributed to our five goals in 2003.
