The Influence of the Natural Environment on Migration in Burkina Faso. A Multilevel Event History Analysis

Bruno Schoumaker, University of Montreal
Sabine Henry, Catholic University of Louvain
Cris Beauchemin, University of Montreal
Bonayi Dabire, University of Ouagadougou

This study evaluates the influence of environmental conditions on migration in rural Burkina Faso, while controlling for various individual and community determinants of migration. The individual data come from a retrospective migration survey conducted in 2000 in Burkina Faso and community-level data come from a retrospective community survey conducted in 2002 on 600 villages. Environmental data consists of fine-resolution rainfall data and land degradation data. Land degradation assessment is based on time-series of remote sensing data. The analyses use multi-level discrete-time event history models, and are conducted separately for men and women. Our results show that environmental conditions do influence migration, but that their effects vary by gender and according to the destination of migration. Their impact also appears to be moderate in comparison to some community-level and individual-level determinants.