A dataset of desertification exposure (2001-2018)

Desertification is revised as: in dryland areas (including hyper-arid areas AI<0.05), non-forest land covers in 2000 change into bare land, and the bareness results in deprivation of essential ecosystem services. According to categories of land degradation, total desertification (code 205) is further defined as agriculture desertification (code 2), grassland desertification (code 3), wetland desertification (code 4), shrubland desertification (code 5) and sparse vegetation desertification (code 6), respectively. Aridity index is from TerraClimate with a 4-km resolution (https://www.climatologylab.org/terraclimate.html), land cover products are ESA CCI-LC product (http://maps.elie.ucl.ac.be/CCI/viewer/index.php), population data exposed to desertification are adjusted WorldPop population data (https://www.worldpop.org/geodata/listing?id=69) with a 300-m resolution。

The study period is 2001-2018, and the spatial resolution is 300-m.

Desertification types include agriculture desertification (code 2), grassland desertification (code 3), wetland desertification (code 4), shrubland desertification (code 5) and sparse vegetation desertification (code 6).