Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED)

About us

The Arab world has played a pioneering role in the history of mankind and participated, to a large extent, in the advancement of knowledge in ancient times. During the 20th century, world economies came to rely increasingly on oil. The Arab region occupied a key position as a worldwide supplier of this vital source of energy, and will continue in this manner through the next four decades at least. However, the impression that the close of the colonial era and the availability of huge reserves of oil and natural gas were to put an end to the problems of the Arab world was erroneous. In general, human development on the Arab scene is poor, natural resources are often exhausted in an unsustainable manner, and the ecological systems undergo a process of continuous degeneration.