At any given place on Earth, complex human-environment interactions are at play, which include differing rates and magnitudes of drivers (e.g. overgrazing, climate change, agricultural practices) and consequences (e.g. soil erosion,changes in productivity, loss of biodiversity). Because these are tied to specific places on the ground with their own intertwined biophysical, social, economic and political environments, land degradation is not a phenomenon that can be modelled or mapped at a global scale. WAD3 builds on a systematic framework of providing a convergence of reliable,global evidence of human environment interactions to identify local or regional areas of concern where land degradation processes may be underway. Concerns can be validated or dismissed only by evaluating them within local biophysical, social, economic and political contexts. Local context provides an understanding of causes and consequences of degradation, but also offers guidance for efforts to control or reverse it.