Enni Kallio - The Impact of Human Migration on the Environment

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Enni Kallio - The Impact of Human Migration on the Environment

Researcher reflects on the impact of human migration on sustainable nature

Enni Kallio speaking during The Next Frontier: Transboundary Cooperation for Biodiversity and Peace

The multiple and dramatic consequences triggered by the increased flux of people moving across international boundaries are well known. How to meet migrants’ food, security, and health needs remains one of the biggest global concerns as millions of people are on the move. However, there are other effects arising as a consequence of mass migration movements which might be less obvious but no less important.

Enni Kallio, a Finnish scholar who specializes in environmental management, provided a new perspective on the topic through her participation at The Next Frontier: Transboundary Cooperation for Biodiversity and Peace. Kallio’s Master’s research explores the impact of human migration on nature conservation. At the moment Kallio is working in Greece’s refugee camps, researching the specific environmental challenges they are facing and how they could provide better humanitarian aid. Her research, funded through an IUCN Global Economics and Social Science Program fellowship, looks at the strategies followed by diverse stakeholders to take care of the camps.

Water resource management is one of the areas Kallio is examining in her fieldwork. She focuses on water sanitation and whether there are enough resources to meet migrants’ needs. Kallio is also paying special attention to waste management practices. Refugee camps are designed as temporary settlement areas and commonly lack proper infrastructure to accommodate great numbers of people for long periods of time. Kallio explains her concern is not only the negative impact that bad practices can have on the environment but also “how they can end up harming the refugees at a personal level.” Kallio’s hope is that her study will not remain as a theory but will lead to action and help to improve each area’s sustainability, providing some guidelines in terms of policy action.

Water and waste management are for Kallio “the easiest problems to notice but not the only ones arising.” She believes it is likely these effects will multiply inside and outside of the camps. Kallio is especially keen on learning more about how Greece is dealing with this situation, as apart from being one of the main host countries, it has its own financial and social problems.

“Greece used to be only a transit point but nowadays many refugees are stuck there as they are basically not allowed to go anywhere else,” Kallio explains.

Kallio says there are many interesting environmental initiatives taking place in the Mediterranean country. For example, this includes a project trying to cope with all the rubbish generated by the rubber boats. The project aims to recycle lifejackets by creating different objects such as keychains or backpacks. The money obtained from their sale is used to fund social initiatives.

Moving forward, Kallio wants to continue to monitor if the environmental issues in the country have changed as a consequence of the large numbers of people occupying spaces that used to be empty.


Enni Kallio was a participant in the Salzburg Global session The Next Frontier: Transboundary Cooperation for Biodiversity and Peace, which is part of the multi-year Parks for the Planet Forum. This session is being hosted in partnership with IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), MAVA Foundation, Arcus Foundation, Aga Khan Foundation, German cooperation (Deutsche Zusammenarbeit), Huffington Foundation, Robert Bosch Stiftung, the Whitney and Elizabeth MacMillan Foundation, and others. More information on the session can be found here: http://www.salzburgglobal.org/?id=7583