Founded in 1982, the World Resources Institute (WRI) is an environmental think tank that goes beyond research to find practical ways to protect the earth and improve people's lives. WRI's mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth's environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. WRI's work is focused around four key programmatic goals, which include: reversing rapid degradation of ecosystems and assure their capacity to provide humans with needed goods and services; empowering people and supporting institutions to foster environmentally sound and socially equitable decision-making; protecting the global climate system from further harm; and harnessing markets and enterprise to expand economic opportunity and protect the environment.