The project "Oasis and Desertification Processes in Arid Zones and Their Response and Control to Human Activities and Climate Change" was established in 2009 under the National Key Basic Research and Development Program of China (973). The project optimized the ecodynamic model of vegetation, established a unit hydrological model, and simulated and analyzed the threshold values of hydrological variables for oasis and desertification in watersheds. The data sets include: the contribution of human activities and climate change to the process of oasis and desertification in a typical area; the analysis of the contribution of human activities and climate change to the process of oasis and desertification in a typical area; and the completion of the regulation zone of the process of oasis and desertification. The open data sets include data on oasis, desertification, salinization and land use in the Northwest Arid Zone (NWARZ) of different ages; data on water, soil, air and biotic processes and changes in typical areas of oasis and desertification; data on key physical processes of oasis and desertification and their numerical simulations; data on hydrological processes in typical watersheds; and data on typical watersheds. Historical reconstruction data; socioeconomic and environmental benefit assessment data. The data sets mainly span from 1950 to 2013, including spatial and temporal distribution changes, long-term observations, field surveys, remote sensing inversion, model simulations, and experimental analyses. Among them, there are 74 spatial and temporal distribution data; observation data including nearly 2 million data from 14 observation stations; 17 remote sensing inversion and reconstruction data sets; 3 survey reports; 15 representative papers and supporting data.