As a key part of the “two screens and three belts”, the northern sand control barrier belt is of great significance for strengthening construction of the barrier belt and improving the ecological environment. Based on the MODIS remote sensing images of 2005，2010 and 2015，the landscape types of the northern sand control barrier belt were divided into seven categories: forest，grassland，wetland，farmland，artificial surface, desert and bare area. Spatial statistics, transfer matrix, landscape index analysis and PNTIL model were used to analyze the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics of ecosystem types in the northern sand barrier belt from 2005 to 2015. The results showed that from 2005 to 2015, the whole ecosystem of the north sand barrier belt was stable. In terms of different regions, the desert area was decreased significantly in Inner Mongolia, and the forest area in the Tarim Desert Protection Barrier was increased rapidly, while the grassland area was increased significantly in the Hexi Corridor. From the perspective of forward/reverse transformation, the positive conversion rate of farmland, town, desert and bare land ecosystems in the barrier zone was higher than the reverse conversion rate. During the past ten years, at the landscape level, the number of patches and patch density in the northern sand barriers showed a decreasing trend. At the type level, the desert landscape as a whole showed a trend of fragmentation and shrinkage. Forests and grasslands developed in the direction of simplified shapes. The results indicated that from 2005 to 2015, the ecological environment of the northern barrier zone was generally good, and the effect of sand control was obvious, but the local area was still facing great pressure.