Based on the remote sensing image data of the western Jilin Province during 1986-2008, this study extracted the landscape information using the GIS software, computed the spatial adjacency characteristics between the main landscapes and the obstacle landscape types, constructed the risk indexes of the western Jilin Province, and assessed the ecological risk based on the landscape pattern. The desertification showed more impact on arable land than on the others and the effect was also obvious in the analysis of the adjacency to the salinealkali land. In the past 20 years, the adjacency indexes of length, area and patch number of forest and grassland to the sand land decreased while that of arable land increased. From 1986 to 2008, the arable land was seriously threatened by desertification and salinization. The stress caused by desertification and salinization increased and the stress caused by salinization was more serious than that by desertification. Our results indicate that salinization becomes a threatening factor on the regional ecological environment sustainability.