As many gather for COP30 in Brazil later this month, it feels timely to be publishing this issue of FMR. The huge response we received to our call for proposals confirmed that the interplay of climate change and displacement is a key theme of interest to our readers, with many actively working on projects related to it. In FMR 76, authors from five continents share their unique perspectives to bring you a rich body of articles which we hope will inform and inspire, bringing fresh thinking and provoking debate.  

As we have edited this issue, the voices of those most affected have constantly brought home to us the very real human impacts of a changing climate. In Micheal Gumisiriza’s article (p.114), he shares a refugee called Chance’s view from the ground: “The rains delay, and when they come, they come like they are angry. They come with a lot of force and end up washing everything away and destroying crops and property.” Musa, a 45-year-old displaced father of five, highlights the complex relationship between different drivers of displacement on the shores of Lake Chad. “We left because of fighting, but we would have left anyway. The water is gone. The fish are gone. The land is sand now. How do you stay in a place that has nothing?” he tells us in Seun Bamidele’s article (p.61).  

Limited choices and painful trade-offs are recurrent themes in the issue but each and every author also offers ways forward which will expand options, increase agency and enable people facing displacement to shape the best futures they can for themselves and their wider communities. This kind of grounded hope is something which we surely need in the face of the huge challenges the climate crisis presents and we are so grateful to the authors for their committment to moving forward the debates and proposing solutions.  

The Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) has been a long-time partner of FMR and they brought their considerable expertise to the development of the call and to every stage of the reviewing process. Particular thanks go to Sarah Koeltzow at PDD for her unwavering commitment to this project and her many hours of reviewing alongside our wonderful team of specialist reviewers: Evan Easton-Calabria, Hannes Einsporn, David Durand-Delacre, Jassin Irscheid, Hayley Kornblum, Juan Mendez, Nicodemus Nyandiko, Ferdinand Nabiswa Makhanu, Ranjan Panda, Annah Pigott-McKellar, Héloïse Ruadel, Yvonne Su, Shana Tabak and Paul Tacon.  

We are very grateful as ever to the organisations who have supported FMR this year: UNCHR, as a core donor, and the University of Oxford as our host institution, and on this issue in particular the Robert Robert Bosch Stiftung, the International Labour Organization and the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University, Canada.  

Over the last few months, we have had to make some changes at FMR and have sadly had to say goodbye to long-time staff members – Sharon Ellis and Maureen Schoenfeld – who had faithfully supported the Editors over many years, with special responsibilities for administration, finance and communications. We are really grateful for all they gave to FMR and wish them well in their next steps.  

The next year marks an exciting new phase in FMR’s development as we take time to reshape our work for the future. Much has changed since we launched over 30 years ago – in forced migration trends and in communication technology – but our commitment to being a forum where ideas spark discussion and enrich debates has not diminished. We remain focused on improving outcomes for displaced people through everything that FMR does. We are developing some new projects which we are looking forward to sharing with you over the coming months – do watch this space! 

We would love to hear from you if you would like to be involved in FMR in any way over the coming year or have topic suggestions to share with us. We are looking for new partnerships and collaborations and await your email. We will also be launching a readership survey in early 2026 and invite you all to help shape our future with your responses.  

With best wishes,  

Alice and Jo 

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