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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 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Note: The material contained in this communication comes to you from the Forced Migration Discussion List which is moderated by the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), University of Oxford. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the RSC or the University. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this message please retain this disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. List archives are available at: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/forced-migration.html