Population and Environment
Volume 40, Issue 4, 2019, Pages 456-479

Direct and indirect impacts of environmental factors on migration in Burkina Faso: application of structural equation modelling (Article)

De Longueville F.* , Zhu Y. , Henry S.
  • a Department of Geography & Institute of Life-Earth-Environment, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium
  • b MRC Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, Department of Statistics, London School of Economics, London, United Kingdom
  • c Department of Geography & Institute of Life-Earth-Environment, University of Namur, Namur, Belgium

Abstract

In the prolific literature on the impact of environment on migration, direct and indirect effects are often mentioned but rarely estimated separately. We use structural equation modelling to estimate how the drivers of migration (socio-economic, environmental and individual) interact with each other and jointly contribute to individuals’ migration decision in rural Burkina Faso (1970–1998). Facing a worsening environmental situation, people’s direct response tends to be short-term migrations to rural and urban areas, but the indirect effect differs: poor rainfall conditions push down socio-economic situation in communities, which in turn discourages migration to rural areas or to abroad. In total, an adverse environmental situation tends to increase the likelihood of short-term migrations to rural and urban areas and to decrease that of long-term migrations to rural areas and to abroad. These findings contribute to a clearer understanding of the migration response to poor environmental conditions. © 2019, Springer Nature B.V.

Author Keywords

Burkina Faso Migration Environment Structural equation modelling

Index Keywords

environmental factor socioeconomic conditions Multivariate Analysis urban-rural migration Burkina Faso environmental conditions rural-urban migration
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85066141604&doi=10.1007%2fs11111-019-00320-x&partnerID=40&md5=d7dd29140bc066b0af1be2db646bf7d0
DOI: 10.1007/s11111-019-00320-x
ISSN: 01990039
Original Language: English