Land is a major overarching theme connecting the three Rio Conventions covering climate change (UNFCCC), biodiversity (CBD), and desertification and land degradation (UNCCD). Land management plays a key role in attaining their goals and targets. Furthermore, a large number of the Sustainable Development Goals have strong links to land and land management, and tradeoffs between sustainability ambitions often materialise on land.

This study provides scenario projections for the Global Land Outlook, which is developed by the secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The aim is to explore how various demands on land are expected to change under alternative future developments up to 2050, how that will affect the challenges facing global sustainability ambitions, and to what extent land degradation may exacerbate these challenges. The study provides policymakers with quantitative information on the order of magnitude of future change to the land system, and can support discussion on policy priorities and interventions, within the UNCCD and other institutions.