Established in 1994, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. The mandate of the Convention and its 197 Parties is to support “a future that avoids, minimizes, and reverses desertification/land degradation and mitigates the effects of drought in affected areas at all levels – and to achieve a land degradation-neutral world consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” The Global Land Outlook (GLO), the UNCCD’s flagship publication released every 4 years, is a state-of-the-art strategic communications product providing a transformative vision and framework for land management practice, policy and planning at global, regional and national scales. The UNCCD is now commissioning a small number of working papers, of which this is one, for the second edition of the GLO (GLO2). The UNCCD, as with normal United Nations practice, will hold the copyright of the working paper. The publication of working papers in this format does not prevent authors from publishing them elsewhere, especially in peer-reviewed journals provided that UNCCD is properly acknowledged. Wider dissemination of the work done by working paper authors is encouraged, taking advantage of social media, public presentations and other venues. Each working paper will be published on the GLO digital platform and is expected to provide essential background and inputs for the GLO2 production team. All published GLO products can be found at: https://knowledge.unccd.int/glo/global-land-outlook-glo