Assessing the Inter-Relationship between Rural Population Migration and Environmental Change in the Dano Watershed, Burkina Faso
Abstract
The study analyses the Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) dynamics as an important environmental factor and links it to migration trends towards the study area. The work uses data collected across two (2) villages, both located in the Dano watershed. Three sets of 30-m Landsat images were used to measure the changes in LULC types for the years 1986, 1999 and 2014. Cumulatively focus group discussion and household interview were employed for socio-economic data collection. Census data for the periods 1987, 1996 and 2006 were also collected from the national census reports. LULC analysis revealed that vegetation area was progressively converted into croplands with an annual rate of 0.92% during the period of study. Pearson correlation analysis between population and cropland on one hand and population and vegetation on the second hand revealed a high positive correlation between population size and cropland (r = 0.99), while there was a high negative correlation between population size and vegetation (r = 0.96). The survey of 180 farmers revealed a diversity of questions about environmental change on their livelihood. Most 78% of farmers believe that deforestation is the main driver of environmental change as a result of the decrease of rainfall and strong wind. Many strategies are used by local communities as a response to environmental changes and migration is seen by 31% of the respondents as a common strategy used by the affected communities. These results from the study showed that migration is one of the major local responses to environmental change.
Downloads
References
Abdul-Korah, G. B. (2008). 'Ka Bie Ba Yor': labor migration among the Dagaaba of the Upper West Region of Ghana, 1936-1957. Nordic Journal of African Studies, 17(1), 1-19.
Abroulaye, S., Issa, S., Abalo, K. E., & Nouhoun, Z. (2015). Climate change: a driver of crop farmers-agro pastoralists conflicts in Burkina Faso. International journal of applied science and technology, 5(3).
Bilsborrow, R. E. (2002). Migration, population change, and the rural environment. Environmental change and security project Report, 8(1), 69-84.
Gleisberg-Gerber, K. (2012). Livelihoods and land management in the Ioba Province in south-western Burkina Faso (No. 91). ZEF Working Paper Series.
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). (2011). New Realities, New Challenges: New Opportunities for Tomorrow’ S Generation. IFAD
Iom International Organization for Migration (IOM). (2008). Migration, development and poverty reduction in Asia. Academic Foundation. Iom International Organization for Migration. (2008). Migration, development and poverty reduction in Asia. Academic Foundation.
Mas, J. F., Velázquez, A., Díaz-Gallegos, J. R., Mayorga-Saucedo, R., Alcántara, C., Bocco, G. & Pérez-Vega, A. (2004). Assessing land use/cover changes: a nationwide multidate spatial database for Mexico. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 5(4), 249-261.
Masih, I., Maskey, S., Mussá, F. E. F., & Trambauer, P. (2014). A review of droughts on the African continent: a geospatial and long-term perspective. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 18(9), 3635-3649.
Ouedraogo, I. (2010). Land use dynamics and demographic change in Southern Burkina Faso (Vol. 2010, No. 2010: 63).
Ouedraogo, I., Ouattara, K., Kaboré, S., Sawadogo, S. P., & Barron, J. (2012). Permanent internal migration as response to food shortage: implication to ecosystem services in southern Burkina Faso. Food production: Approaches, challenges and tasks, 41-54.
Ouedraogo, I., Savadogo, P., Tigabu, M., Cole, R., Odén, P. C., & Ouadba, J. M. (2009). Is rural migration a threat to environmental sustainability in Southern Burkina Faso? Land degradation & development, 20(2), 217-230.
Ouedraogo, I., Tigabu, M., Savadogo, P., Compaoré, H., Odén, P. C., & Ouadba, J. M. (2010). Land cover change and its relation with population dynamics in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Land Degradation & Development, 21(5), 453-462.
Rawat, J. S., & Kumar, M. (2015). Monitoring land use/cover change using remote sensing and GIS techniques: A case study of Hawalbagh block, district Almora, Uttarakhand, India. The Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Science, 18(1), 77-84.
Renaud, F. G., Bogardi, J. J., Dun, O., & Warner, K. (2007). Control, adapt or flee: How to face environmental migration? UNU-EHS.
Sanfo, S., Lamers, J., Mueller, M., & Fonta, W. (2014). Farmers’ Perception of climate change and climate variability versus climatic evidence in Burkina Faso, West Africa. Proceedings of the Climate Change in Africa. Negotiations, Translations, and Socio-Political Implications, Bonn, Germany, 10-12.
Sow, P., Adaawen, S. A., & Scheffran, J. (2014). Migration, social demands and environmental change amongst the Frafra of Northern Ghana and the Biali in Northern Benin. Sustainability, 6(1), 375-398.
Traore, S. S., Forkue, E. K., Traore, P. C., & Landmann, T. (2015). Assessing the inter-relationship between vegetation productivity, rainfall, population and land cover over the Bani River Basin in Mali (West Africa). IOSR Journal of Engineering, 5(6), 10-18.
Traore, S. S., Landmann, T., Forkuo, E. K., & Traore, P. C. S. (2014). Assessing long-term trends in vegetation productivity change over the Bani River Basin in Mali (West Africa). Journal of Geography and Earth Sciences, 2(2).
Van der Geest, K., Vrieling, A., & Dietz, T. (2010). Migration and environment in Ghana: a cross-district analysis of human mobility and vegetation dynamics. Environment and Urbanisation, 22(1), 107-123.
van Vliet, N., Reenberg, A., & Rasmussen, L. V. (2013). Scientific documentation of crop land changes in the Sahel: A half empty box of knowledge to support policy? Journal of Arid Environments, 95, 1-13.
Warner, K. (2011). Environmental change and migration: methodological considerations from ground-breaking global survey. Population and environment, 33(1), 3-27.
Zoungrana, B. J., Conrad, C., Amekudzi, L. K., Thiel, M., Da, E. D., Forkuor, G., & Löw, F. (2015). Multi-temporal landsat images and ancillary data for land use/cover change (LULCC) detection in the Southwest of Burkina Faso, West Africa. Remote Sensing, 7(9), 12076-12102.
Copyright (c) 2021 Samuel Kiplangat Ngetich
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
