Global biodiversity models (GBMs) are essential to assess the global status of biodiversity and support biodiversity policy. However, current GBMs are limited in the selection of human pressures they consider as well as the extent to which they account for the context-dependence of biodiversity responses to human pressures. Moreover, GBMs are challenged by data shortfalls, as the availability of biodiversity data differs greatly among species (groups) and world regions. This thesis aims to improve the way GBMs assess biodiversity responses to human pressures by 1) developing new context-specific response relationships for understudied pressures that allow for extrapolation to understudied species and/or regions, and 2) demonstrating how to use these types of models to quantify the combined impacts of multiple human pressures at large scales. Ultimately, this thesis advances our understanding of how human pressures are affecting terrestrial biodiversity worldwide.