Issue 30 of Forced Migration Review, to be published in February 2008, will 
include a feature section on:

Environmentally-induced displacement
(http://www.fmreview.org/environment.htm)

Forced displacement for environmental reasons is not a recent phenomenon. 
Historically, people have often had to move from their land because of 
degradation of resources and/or conflict over scarce resources. Migration, and 
population movement in general, is part of human history and an important 
adaptive mechanism. What is more recent is the potential for mass movements 
caused by chronic factors such as desertification and widespread resource 
depletion and by acute events such as floods, droughts, hurricanes and 
tsunamis. As awareness grows of the role and speed of climate change and as the 
physical effects of climate change – both acute and chronic – are felt around 
the world, there has been a proliferation of warnings concerning rapidly 
accelerating rates of displacement. Such displacement may in turn fuel existing 
conflicts over resources and generate new ones, causing more displacement. Yet 
a direct causal relationship between environmental factors and population 
movement is hard to establish, given the complex interactions between 
environmental, socio-economic, political and governance factors.

The FMR Editors are looking for practice-oriented submissions, reflecting a 
diverse range of opinions, which address questions such as the following: 

- How do we predict the nature and scale of environmentally-induced 
displacement? Does debate over numbers of those likely to be affected help or 
hinder the development of preparedness, preventive and response strategies?
- Can we predict the impact of widespread environmentally-induced displacement 
on local populations? How will this vary between rural and urban areas? What 
will be the impact on NGO/UN/donor programmes? 
- How will the impact vary – in terms of migration, adaptation and response – 
depending on whether a crisis is of slow or rapid onset? 
- What examples are there of resilience, adaptation and coping strategies?
- What are the key ‘tipping points’ that trigger displacement rather than 
adaptation?
- When is displacement ‘driven’ and when is it ‘drawn’? What examples are there 
of displacement for positive reasons? How is migration a strategy to avoid a 
crisis – without creating another crisis somewhere else?
- What examples are there of situations where an earlier intervention might 
have prevented conflict and/or displacement? 
- Who claims responsibility for responding to environmentally-induced 
displacement?
- How can the international community monitor and respond to catastrophes in 
the making? 
- What have we learned to date about the need for preparedness? 
- How can the international community help local populations avoid conflict 
over natural resources? How do local communities already work for peace?
- Does the international community have deficiencies in its understanding of 
the issues and therefore its ability to make projections – or in its policy 
making and implementation – or in both? 
- Will the definition of ‘refugee’ – and the concept of protection – need to 
change, and how?
- How much will issues of national sovereignty hinder an effective response in 
cases of internal displacement?
- What will be the impact of bilateral donors’ need to ‘climate-proof’ the 
projects they fund, for the sake of accountability? 
- What is the role of the media in generating awareness and educating people – 
and, conversely, in contributing to fears about mass migration? What effective 
media initiatives have been taken at local, regional and international levels?

Deadline for final submission of articles: 1st December 2007. Maximum length: 
2,500 words. Further information for FMR authors is at: 
www.fmreview.org/writing.htm. Please write to us as soon as possible if you are 
interested in contributing or have suggestions of colleagues who may be able to.

We are keen to reflect the experiences and knowledge of communities affected by 
environmentally-induced displacement. Please consider writing for us even if 
you have not written an article before. We would be happy to work with you to 
develop an article about your experience. 

If you could help disseminate information about this issue – and/or copies when 
printed – we would very much like to hear from you.

We encourage readers to send us written contributions on any aspect of 
contemporary forced migration. Each issue of FMR has a feature theme but at 
least a third of each issue is set aside for 'non-theme' articles. 

Please contact the Editors at [log in to unmask]

FMR is totally dependent on grant income. We need £50,000 / $102,000 / €75,000 
to cover the design, translation, print and distribution costs of this issue in 
English, French, Arabic and Spanish. We would be very grateful for any advice 
you can give as to which agencies you think we could approach for a partial 
contribution towards these costs. 

Apologies for any cross-posting.

Best wishes

Marion Couldrey 
Editor, Forced Migration Review

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