Because of the disruptive effects of the civil war, many of the oldest NGOs still in existence today were founded during the 1980s. These include the Committee of Cedar Forest Friends (CFC), and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL), founded in 1985 and 1986 respectively.[4] In 1994, eight NGOs, among these the CFC and SPNL, established the Lebanese Environment Forum, and became its member organizations.