In recent years there have been significant advances in the observational and modeling techniques used to reconstruct and interpret paleo records that relate to changes in sea-level and/or ice extent. This special issue, which presents contributions from the PALeo constraints on Sea-level (PALSEA) PAGES/IMAGES/WUN 1 1Past Global Changes/the International Marine Past Global Changes study/World University Network. working group, reflects a number of these developments. Here, we provide an overview of the papers presented in this special issue. By bringing insights from very different paleo-archives and methodologies together, we hope that this special issue will encourage new ideas and collaborations in this area of climate science.