Recent years have seen growing calls to govern land resources as global environmental commons, delivering benefits to all of humanity in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. Applying this call to drylands – almost half of the world’s land – allows responses that are better tailored to dryland attributes. Four key elements for global drylands governance emerge from linking an understanding of drylands attributes with recent global governance scholarship: the need for a polycentric system with nested goal setting, transparent monitoring and graduated sanctions. These elements require nuanced application in drylands, with an emphasis on empowering the local. We describe how the present global governance architecture for drylands – the UN Convention to Combat Desertification – provides a partial scaffolding, but falls short in specific areas that deserve attention.