AFED meaning in Community ?

The Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) (Arabic: المنتدى العربي للبيئة والتنمية‎) is a not-for-profit regional non-governmental organization, membership-based organization headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon, with the status of international organization; grouping experts together with the civil society, business community and media, to promote prudent environmental policies and programmes across the Arab region.

While it maintains its character as a non-governmental organization, AFED admits, in the capacity of observers, national, regional and international bodies working in the fields of environment and sustainable development. It has been endorsed by the League of Arab States (LAS) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

AFED was officially proclaimed in Beirut on 17 June 2006, at the conclusion of a regional conference on Public Opinion and the Environment, organized by Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia (Environment & Development magazine). The initiative, which started in 2001 by Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia publisher Najib Saab as an informal gathering of the magazine's region-wide readers, was established as a regional organization on the occasion of its tenth anniversary. AFED has subsequently earned the status of international non-governmental organization, with the associated amenities for its secretariat based in Beirut. Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia magazine became an organ of AFED as of January 2013, after Saab turned it over to the pan-Arab organization.