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Climate change and internal migration intentions in the forest-savannah transition zone of Ghana

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Abstract

Migration is at the centre of demographic research on the population–environment nexus. Increasing concerns about the impacts of environmental events on human population are fuelling interest on the relationship between migration and environmental change. Using data from the Climate Change Collective Learning and Observatory Network Ghana project, we employ binary logistic regression to examine migration intentions of households in response to major community stressors including climate-related ones. The results indicate that the type of community stressor that affects households most does not differentiate migration intentions in Ghana’s forest-savannah transition zone: Even though the majority of the respondents mentioned climate-related events as the stressor that affects them the most, such events do not appear to directly explain migration intentions. However, socio-demographic factors such as age, household size and current migration status are significant predictors of migration intentions, with younger household heads, heads of migrant households and heads of smaller households being relatively more likely to have migration intentions than other household heads. We conclude that migration drivers are multifaceted and deserve further research because even in areas with perceived environmental stress, climate-related events may not be the primary motivation for migration intentions.

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Notes

  1. Abu and Codjoe are members of the CCLONG team.

  2. Bush fires are specifically linked to drought in the study area. Major drought events in the area have been reported in 1983, 1988 and 1995, which was also the period that widespread bush fire destroyed farms and displaced a lot of households. The impact of the harmattan weather in parts of the year which brings about temporary drought has been associated with bush fires in the transition zone.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG 96, Legon, Ghana

    Mumuni Abu & Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe

  2. University of Sussex, East Sussex, UK

    Jon Sward

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  1. Mumuni Abu
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  2. Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe
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Correspondence to Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe.

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Abu, M., Codjoe, S.N.A. & Sward, J. Climate change and internal migration intentions in the forest-savannah transition zone of Ghana. Popul Environ 35, 341–364 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-013-0191-y

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