Recent ecological hazards frequently occurred due to natural ecosystems under direct or indirect pressures and stresses from human society with accelerating changes. In 2019, President Jinping Xi stated that the ecological protection and high-quality development for Yellow River Basin, as an important ecological barrier in China, are critical national needs. Additionally, on behalf of the people of different groups, the health of natural environment and sustainable development of ecology attracts full attention. Especially the Loess Plateau, which experienced the heaviest soil erosion in the middle reaches of the Yellow River basin, is an important object of ecological engineering. Therefore, assessing landscape ecological risk in the Loess Plateau lays an important scientific foundation for optimizing regional natural ecosystem security pattern, and serves ecological protection and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin. However, traditional landscape ecological risk assessment based on evaluating the deviation degree of landscape mosaics from the optimal pattern was biased at Loess Plateau due to underestimating the difference between landscape types and ecosystem processes. Therefore, a landscape ecological risk assessment index system should be further developed based on a comprehensive pattern-process ecological adaptability cycle three-dimensional framework. The landscape ecological risks of the Loess Plateau are then respectively evaluated in 2000, 2010, and 2017. The results of the spatial distribution were significantly different from the simple phenomenon of high risk only in desert landscapes using the traditional landscape pattern risk index method. The ecological risk show descending tendency in the following four regions, urban and desert landscapes, grassland landscapes in the middle of hilly and gully areas, desert grassland landscapes in the northwest, farmland landscapes in the southeast, and alpine woodland landscapes in the southeast. Additionally, the average value of landscape ecological risk has been decreasing from 0.410 to 0.385 whilst implementing the grain for green project between 2000 and 2017. It is worth noting that, the impact of ecological project on the sharp decline of landscape ecological risk becomes weaker in recent years, according to the slightly decrease tendency from 2010 to 2017. Further, although natural landscape units (i.e. woodland and grassland) have been made better by ecological projects, the ecological risks in artificial landscapes (i.e. cultivated field and construction land) have been decreasing due to urban expansion. We strongly suggest to strengthen the intensive and efficient use of urban land and restrict the development of small towns with harsh environments in the north. Serious considerations for ecological protection should also be taken into in hilly and gully region in the central Loess Plateau since insufficient vegetation restoration and increased precipitation erosion at this region will also increase the risk.