Globalization, urbanization, and deforestation linkage in Burkina Faso.

This study examines the effect of globalization and urbanization on deforestation in Burkina Faso, over the period 1980 to 2017. The study employed the autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) model and the Toda-Yamamoto Granger causality approach. Empirical findings affirmed that globalization, urbanization, and agricultural land have a positive and significant effect on deforestation in the long run, while population density reduces the deforestation rate, thus indicating an improvement in environmental quality. On the other hand, urbanization, economic growth, and population density have a positive and significant impact on deforestation in the short run. Furthermore, the Granger causality approach confirmed a bidirectional association between deforestation and urbanization and between globalization and agricultural land, as well as between urbanization and population density. The result further affirmed a unidirectional causal link running from urbanization to agricultural land. Based on the empirical findings, the study recommends that the government should ensure more regulation on the removal of barriers to international trade. The study further recommends that the government should implement relevant agricultural policies to guard against deforestation since the results of the study suggest that agriculture contributes negatively to deforestation in Burkina Faso.