Biomass energy plants: see themselves as a cost-effective solution for farmers who need to get rid of dead trees and other woody waste that pose wildfire risks without openly burning them; they also produce energy
Utilities companies: looking for the "least-cost, best-fit" source of energy, don't care where it comes from just that it's reasonably priced
Farmers: need cheap ways to dispose of waste
Technology to dispose of woody waste from almond trees in ways other than open burning or biomass facilities doesn't exist yet, at least at the scale needed for massive almond orchards
Closures of biomass energy plants have forced SJVAPCD to allow more open burning of agricultural waste, which produces particulate matter and contributes to already severe air quality in the Central Valley
The report was published by L'institut de hautes études internationales et du développement on revues.org
The report is written by Doctors Without Borders (Médecin sans Frontières)
This report is written following an apparent “failure” in the disaster response following the 2010 Haiti earthquake
The report consists of the main article followed by a response from Andrea Binder of the Global Public Policy Institute.
The data for this report was obtained over a period from the earthquake in 2010 to 2012.
The report addresses disaster and health in how it describes actors' emergency response to the initial disaster as adequate but states the aid supplied does not allow progress to occur. The victims of the disaster were given temporary shelter in tents, but many still live in tents at the time of this report being written. These conditions led to a cholera outbreak which the actors did not seem to care about or provide aid for.
The report states that funding is passed down from the top while reports are passed up from the bottom leading to a lot of dysfunction in the chain of aid, especially for technical professionals an the bottom of the chain.