CAR activities focus on sustainable development issues, which contribute to lasting poverty reduction and natural resource conservation. Sustainable Development (SD) has been a key focus area since the release of the 1987 Our Common Future report and the 1992 Rio Summit on Sustainable Development. The 2012 Rio+20 Summit made it clear that environmental management and poverty reduction must be at the core of development efforts of national governments and the global community. This led to the adoption of the global Sustainable Development Goals in 2016 to succeed the Millennium Development Goals. The challenge of Sustainable Development is now effective implementation and CAR is ready to play its part in achieving this in Botswana and (southern) Africa.
In its projects, CAR has added institutional sustainability to the three traditional SD pillars (environmental, economic and social). To promote institutional sustainability and build capacity, CAR also works in partnership with clients. CAR works with SD related concepts of integrated water resource management (IWRM) and community based natural resource management.
CAR has a small, but well-equipped and professional secretariat, with an excellent library with over 3 000 titles.