In Southeast Asia, a region rich in natural carbon stores, or sinks, such as forests, organic peat soil and coastal and marine areas, the search for climate governance solutions has become increasingly urgent. This is both because of the region's vulnerability to climate change-related hazards and the risk of its globally significant carbon sinks being converted into carbon sources due to increasing demand for plantation-grown commodities and high levels of urbanization and industrialisation. This destruction of major carbon sinks will drive ever increasing volumes of greenhouse gases emissions into the atmosphere and further exacerbate the region-wide impacts of global warming. The research is concerned with the ways in which social processes shape environmental outcomes. Specifically, we want to explore the challenges and opportunities for climate governance as applied in particular to globally-critical carbon sinks in Southeast Asia.