Governance of complex adaptive social-ecological systems is pivotal in responding to climate change at multiple spatial and temporal scales. This symposium reports on the frontiers of thinking about the policy and institutional dimensions of mitigation and adaptation interventions and their implications for such human-dominated "working landscapes." Moving beyond the role of institutions in dealing with tradeoffs among competing policy objectives along different outcome dimensions -- income generation, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services provision, greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon sequestration -- panelists will discuss the challenge of devising complex multi-level governance systems for working landscapes. They will address the following suite of questions: Given ecological heterogeneity and legacies of past land uses, what combination of land uses comprises the best alternative in any given context? What is the appropriate level and scope of institutions geared toward resolving conflicts -- between competing benefits (local versus global, carbon versus biodiversity), among multiple claimants to benefits from a resource, and between equity and sustainability? The symposium represents cutting-edge theory and interdisciplinary research, bringing together natural and social sciences, taking forward the dialog on the grand challenges of sustainability science.