Browsing by Author "Williams, Aaron"

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    Assessing the Sustainability of Tsunami-Impacted Communities of Thailand’s Andaman Coast: An Institutional Ethnography
    (2013-01-25) Williams, Aaron; Draper, Dianne; Rankin, Janet
    The 2004 Andaman Sea-Indian Ocean tsunami had a profound and enduring effect on communities, environment, and the overall livelihood of survivors. For impacted regions, the nature of reconstruction and recovery efforts has permanent implications for the long-term sustainability of communities and the livelihood of individuals. This institutional ethnography (IE) study assesses the sustainability of reconstruction aid and recovery in the four tsunami-impacted communities of Ban Nam Khem, Bangkaya, Thuungwa, and Khao Lak in Phang Nga province of Southern Thailand. The purpose of this study is to describe the post-tsunami landscape of recovery within these communities, and to document how survivors have experienced the processes of reconstruction, aid and recovery in their everyday world. Employing IE, the research exposes the broader influence of policies and plans created by institutions and government bodies that dictated the ruling relations of recovery within communities of focus. Analysis of data collected from February 2011 to December 2012 revealed an uneven pattern of aid and recovery not only between villages, but within villages. These patterns are delineated by divergent policies for aid and recovery that set people and communities on different trajectories in the reconstruction and recovery process. This has resulted in varying and uneven outcomes for long-term recovery both between and within communities of study. The emerging problematic within the study centres on the struggle for valuable land within the region. Furthermore, the emerging issues surrounding land and varying policies and plans for aid and recovery appear to shed light on fundamental flaws in reconstruction policies as a top down approach, while revealing the benefits of a grass-roots approach to reconstruction, aid, and recovery cultivated through non-governmental organization support, and enacted by people within the community. The overall outcomes and assessment of sustainable development in the reconstruction and aid recovery are discussed as are recommendations regarding how they can be linked to broader global and domestic forces impacting recovery. It is hoped that this study will not only help the people of the selected communities better understand the policies and processes that dictated the reconstruction and recovery effort in their communities, but also allow for NGOs and levels of government to understand more effective ways to rebuild communities following a disaster.
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    Woodland encroachment impacts on forest/grassland ecotone soil, southwest Alberta, Canada
    (2022-04) Radloff, Camelot; Goldblum, David; Freeman, Andrea; Williams, Aaron
    This multi-method analysis measures vegetation dynamics within a grassland-woodland ecotone. The ecotone study site, Ann and Sandy Cross Conservation Area (ASCCA) is situated in the southern Alberta Foothills Fescue ecodistrict and Foothills Parkland ecodistrict. Canadian native grasslands are threatened by land conversion, invasion of introduced pasture grasses, and tree encroachment. The unmitigated range expansion of trembling aspen, an early succession tree species, is problematic due to the alteration of soil conditions, which displaces native grasslands. This has occurred elsewhere in prairie grasslands, where soils shift from Chernozem into Luvisol, showing the transition from grassland to forest vegetation. Four vegetation type identified at ASCCA (forest, plowed and unplowed grassland, and the transition zone). Each vegetation type had 10 sites representing subpopulations within the heterogeneous landscape. The objective was to determine soil characteristics for each vegetation types and evaluate whether transition sites are more similar to grassland or forest soils. The results found transition sites can provide baseline knowledge, used to better understand soil characteristic and vegetation change - especially at the grassland-forest boundary. Transition sites were similar to forests and plowed grasslands. Altered grassland landscapes (through the mechanism of plowing, fire suppression, and removal of important keystone grazers) are likely onset sites of future soil alteration due to the mismanagement of adjacent woody encroachment. Plowed grasslands with gentle slope angles were more conducive to soil alteration from tree encroachment. Grasses find refuge on steeper slopes, however, are vulnerable in plowed grasslands, and need critical attention in these areas. Presently, only 2 % native grassland remains at ASCCA (AGRA, 1997). If plowed grasslands continue to persist without disturbances to manage tree encroachment, soil alteration in these areas can lead to native grassland corridor loss.