Ever since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, international processes and domestic policy initiatives have turned to innovative policy mixes to conserve nature. These tools have expanded from traditional regulatory approaches to incorporate finance and market driven incentives. What are the lessons from these efforts for sparking the type of transformative change required to address the double crises of global climate change and mass species extinctions?

The purpose of this panel is to reflect on how past and current research on climate and forest governance generate insights for triggering transformative change. What is the role for regulation vis-a-vis finance and market driven tools? This panel also explores how both tools can be intertwined in political processes that produce and shape behavioural change. Such processes include: (a) climate litigation by civil society, and (b) a global “race to the top” in environmental standards amongst business and environment coalitions that can be traced back to strong regulatory requirements.