Beirut, 3-11-2010

500 Participants from 52 Countries

AFED Launches its Annual Conference Tomorrow

Beirut,3/11/2010

The Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) announced the participation of more than 500 delegates from 52 countries, among them 30 ministers and presidents of regional and international organizations, as well as 20 foreign correspondents and 50 reporters from Arab media, in its third annual conference on 4-5 November in the Conference Center of Al Habtoor Grand in Beirut, under the patronage of Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

The conference has generated a high level of interest due to the importance of the results that shall be announced in the ground-breaking report on the state of water in Arab countries, prepared by AFED, with the participation of leading researchers and scientific centers. The report is expected to be the most comprehensive document published on the subject.

Another highlight of the conference will be a presentation by the Director of the Center of Remote Sensing at Boston University (CRS-BU) Dr. Farouk El-Baz, about locating possible groundwater sites in the Arab desert via satellite images.

Participating in the conference is a large number of renowned Arab and international researchers and experts, in addition to several Arab ministers of Environment. As a follow up on AFED’s 2009 conference, which dealt with the impact of climate change on Arab countries, and ahead of the forthcoming Climate Change summit in Cancun, Mexico, The Road to Cancun special session will be dedicated to discuss Arab participation in the summit. During this session, and in the presence of a special envoy from the host country Mexico, high level participants will discuss a paper prepared by AFED to catalyze a constructive Arab contribution towards achieving practical results in Cancun.

During the conference, the landmark documentary entitled The Last Drop will be released for the first time, summarizing the findings of AFED’s 2010 annual report.
http://www.afedonline.org/en/inner.aspx?contentID=546