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We calculated the area of seven ecosystems, used the NDVI index to analyze the temporal-change of vegetation-covered land in the Qinghai Lake basin from 2004 to 2019, and the principal component analysis to analyze the driving mechanism of desertification. The results showed that grasslands are the dominant ecosystem, and the desert ecosystem had an area of 32 km2, accounting for only 0.1% of the total area. The evolution of desertification was in the reversal stage. The vegetation cover increased from 54% in 2004 to 66% in 2019, showing a change process of mild destruction-slow restoration: 2004-2008, high degree vegetation-covered land dominated the declination of vegetation with the dynamic trend of -5.67%; 2009-2013, medium degree vegetation-covered land dominated the restoration of vegetation with the dynamic trend of 2.45%; 2014-2019, medium and high degree vegetation-covered land showed an increasing trend with the dynamic trend of 0.86% and 1.17% respectively. Natural and human factors, which were manifested as the domination of human activities and the exacerbation effect of natural factors, influenced desertification. The first principal component integrated both anthropogenic and natural factors accounted for 52.27% of the contribution rate, while the second principal component included only natural factors that accounted for 23.77%.