Dr. Barron Joseph Orr is the Lead Scientist for the UNCCD. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona (USA) where he also served as a NASA Geospatial Extension Specialist. In 2014, he was named Marie Curie Fellow, and he was selected as an independent scientist for the UNCCD Science-Policy Interface (SPI). After a career collaborating with local communities, he is now engaged in global environmental monitoring, including SDG 15 “Life on Land”. Professor Orr is also co-lead author of the Scientific Conceptual Framework on Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN), which was formally endorsed by the 196 country parties to the UNCCD in 2017.