The impacts of migrants on environmental degradation in developing countries

Abstract

The prolonged issue of environmental degradation, especially in developing countries, has urgently called for a solution by first identifying the source of the problem. Poverty has been identified as among the core cause of environmental degradation. But we also foresee the prospect of migrations from poor countries as an additional force that leads to the worsening of environmental deterioration. Empirically, this paper investigates the effect of migration on the environmental deterioration of 29 developing countries for the period between 1980 and 2019. Adopting the panel cointegration approach, the paper finds evidence that deterioration seems to be higher in countries with a higher level of migration. Although the results could be undesirable to the host countries, the best and win–win solution could be achieved by the government of the host countries, either with or without the assistance of the United Nations, to introduce more assistance to support their life and educate their citizens to be more environmentally savvy.