NAIROBI, KENYA/ The first in a series of emergency airlift flights arrived in the Kenyan capital in the past days as part of the efforts of the United Nations to assist the hundreds of thousands of Somalis who have taken refuge in neighbouring countries.

The giant cargo jet chartered international organizations landed in Nairobi with it 100 tonnes of tents that are destined for the Dadaab refugee camp complex near the Kenya-Somalia border. Five more are arriving during the week.

JERSEY, UNITED KINGDOM/ A new version of the International Whaling Commission, IWC, meeting opens today, June 11. High expectations are waited to take urgent actions to protect whales, dolphins and porpoises from expanding shipping, offshore oil and gas, irresponsible entanglement in fishing gear, and noise in the oceans.

The marine environment has never before been under such great pressure, and several whale, dolphin and porpoise species are on the brink of extinction. Possibly fewer than 130 Western North Pacific gray whales remain, yet offshore oil and gas projects are expanding ever further.  

BRUSSELS, SPAIN/ The country will face, again, the EU Court of Justice for breaching pieces of EU environment legislation. The country failed to accomplish European Union Directives in this field.

There is a lack of adequate treatment systems, which should have been in place since 1998, poses risks to human health, to inland waters and the marine environment. The Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik referred the case to the EU Court of Justice.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM/ 10 members of the European Union do not take action in the next two months to implement a Directive on promoting clean and energy-efficient vehicles. The European Commission will refer the case to the European Court of Justice if claims are  not heard.

Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom are the nations asked to bring the law into force. The deadline for implementation of the Directive was 4 December 2010.

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM/ The European Commission ask country Member States to implement environmental rules. 13 Member States received two months to transpose EU rules laying down criminal penalties against sea pollution and other environmental offences.

The Directive on criminal law from 2008, measures to protect the environment should have been introduced in national law by 26 December 2010.  Countries have so far failed to accomplish or implement the directive.

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA/ South Africa will host ending this year the 17 version of the Conference of the Parties COP17. The elected city, Durban, makes arrangements to receive delegations from the whole world. No one talks about it.

The new meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol will look forward for an inclusive, wider and strict agreement in order to reach common goals able to tackle climate change.

BRAZZAVILLE, CONGO/ The role of the three tropical forest basins of the Amazon, Congo and Borneo Mekong is universally recognized.

The basins account for 80% of the world's tropical forests and are home to two thirds of terrestrial biodiversity while providing livelihood to more than one billion people. Meeting in Congo faces its reality!

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES/ The world must implement better governance structure and a set of forward-looking policies across a range of management issues were to reduce actual environmental problems.

The steps adopted by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), held last week, mark the Panel’s review process informed by the recommendations and suggestions of the InterAcademy Council (IAC).

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM/ Hungary is one of the last members who entered into the European Union and is far from granting many policies. One of this are the ones related to preserve nature.

The country has been asked to address the inadequate protection of nature in an area that is home to globally threatened bird species.

LONDON, BRUSSELS/ In Greater London, Great Britain, the quality of air is not as clean as it should be. Recommendations have been done, but things there are still moving slow.

This situation pushedthe European Commission to give more time for the Island to reach the standards known as the PM10, related to airborne particles.