TY - JOUR
T1 - Migration and land-use/land-cover change in Burkina Faso
T2 - A comparative case study
AU - Nébié, Elisabeth Kago Ilboudo
AU - West, Colin Thor
N1 - Funding Information:
Au Burkina Faso, pays sahélien d'Afrique Occidentale, la croissance démographique, la mauvaise gestion des ressources et la réduction des pluies ont accéléré la dégradation des sols. A travers le pays, la croissance rapide de la population ainsi que les forts taux de migrations rurales internes et 30 années de dessiccation ont entrainé de profonds changements dans l'utilisation des terres et des transformations de la couverture terrestre. Historiquement, dans les régions du Plateau Central et du Nord du Burkina Faso, la dégradation des sols a stimulé des migrations à grande échelle vers les zones fertiles du Sud. Alors que certaines provinces du Nord sont en cours de réhabilitation par les projets de conservation des sols et des eaux (SWC), le Sud du pays, considéré « intact », a été négligé. Selon les chercheurs, ces dernières décennies, le flux de migrants venant du Nord serait à l'origine de la dégradation croissante des sols au Sud. Nous présentons une étude de cas empirique et contrôlée entre deux provinces afin de mieux comprendre les dynamiques des migrations et des changements 1 Dr. Elisabeth Kago Ilboudo Nébié, Postdoctoral Research Scientist, International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), Earth Institute of Columbia University, USA and graduate from UNC Chapel Hill (2018). Email: ilboudo_nebie "at" iri.columbia.edu. Dr. Colin Thor West, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, UNC Chapel Hill, USA Email ctw "at" email.unc.edu. We would like to thank reviewers and acknowledge funding from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, PEO International, the US National Science Foundation's Research Experience for Graduate Students (REG) program (BCS-1261800), and the Harriett Kupferer travel award from UNC's Department of Anthropology.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, University of Arizona Libraries.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - In the Sahelian country of Burkina Faso, West Africa, population pressure, poor resource management, and reduced rainfall have exacerbated land degradation. A rapidly growing population coupled with high rates of internal rural migration and thirty years of desiccation have resulted in profound land-use/land-cover change (LULCC) throughout the country. In the Central Plateau and northern regions of Burkina Faso, land degradation has historically stimulated large-scale out-migration toward more fertile areas in the south. While some northern provinces are being rehabilitated by Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) projects, southern provinces, considered more "pristine", have been neglected. In recent decades, researchers have attributed the initiation of land degradation processes in southern regions to this influx of migrants from the north. This study presents an empirical controlled case study between two provinces to better understand the dynamics of migration and LULC. One province, Bam Province in the north, has long been a zone of departure while Sissili Province in the south has long been a destination zone. Using a regional political ecology framework, we integrate a time series of LULCC data with demographic census data and local narratives to compare migration and LULCC trends in Bam and Sissili from 1975 to 2013. We find that in-migration correlates with substantial and dramatic LULCC while out-migration is associated with only moderate LULCC. This controlled comparison also suggests that local land-use/land-cover change and migration dynamically interact. As environmental conditions in Bam improve and in Sissili deteriorate, long-term trends of either out-or in-migration for either province stabilize, and can even reverse.
AB - In the Sahelian country of Burkina Faso, West Africa, population pressure, poor resource management, and reduced rainfall have exacerbated land degradation. A rapidly growing population coupled with high rates of internal rural migration and thirty years of desiccation have resulted in profound land-use/land-cover change (LULCC) throughout the country. In the Central Plateau and northern regions of Burkina Faso, land degradation has historically stimulated large-scale out-migration toward more fertile areas in the south. While some northern provinces are being rehabilitated by Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) projects, southern provinces, considered more "pristine", have been neglected. In recent decades, researchers have attributed the initiation of land degradation processes in southern regions to this influx of migrants from the north. This study presents an empirical controlled case study between two provinces to better understand the dynamics of migration and LULC. One province, Bam Province in the north, has long been a zone of departure while Sissili Province in the south has long been a destination zone. Using a regional political ecology framework, we integrate a time series of LULCC data with demographic census data and local narratives to compare migration and LULCC trends in Bam and Sissili from 1975 to 2013. We find that in-migration correlates with substantial and dramatic LULCC while out-migration is associated with only moderate LULCC. This controlled comparison also suggests that local land-use/land-cover change and migration dynamically interact. As environmental conditions in Bam improve and in Sissili deteriorate, long-term trends of either out-or in-migration for either province stabilize, and can even reverse.
KW - Burkina faso
KW - LULCC
KW - Migration
KW - Regional political ecology
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U2 - 10.2458/V26I1.23070
DO - 10.2458/V26I1.23070
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85083325888
SN - 1073-0451
VL - 26
SP - 614
EP - 632
JO - Journal of Political Ecology
JF - Journal of Political Ecology
IS - 1
ER -