Consolidation of the protected area system in the Qilian Mountains-Qinghai Lake landscape to conserve globally significant biodiversity and development of landscape level management will promote resilience and a functional natural environment across these critical ecosystems. The project aims to strengthen the enabling conditions both at the institutional and site level, to enhance the participation of local communities in natural resource management towards achieving mutually beneficial conservation and socioeconomic outcomes. Although the current protected areas in the Qilian Mountains-Qinghai Lake landscape, namely the Qinghai Lake national nature reserve (NNR) and the Qilian Mountains nature reserve (NR), are managed under sustainable use arrangements, e.g., access for local Tibetan herders to grassland ecosystems, there remain threats to globally significant biodiversity that are not being effectively managed. The project is designed to increase participation through collaborative management and innovative conservation financing arrangements, including but not limited to: (1) expansion of the PA system and management under collaborative community arrangements; (2) community and/or herder group agreements to remove or adjust fencing to reduce threats to Przewalski's gazelle and increase habitat connectivity; (3) development of community jobs in support of PA management; (4) support for sustainable alternative livelihoods linked to conservation incentives, e.g., biodiversity friendly eco-tourism; (5) collaborative implementation of grassland restoration, utilizing local herders to patrol and manage the process; (6) collaborative livestock management in high mountain grasslands, reducing seasonal fragmentation of habitat for key species, including the snow leopard; and (7) pilot implementation of innovative conservation financing, e.g., through conservation easement arrangements, including transfer of tenure and/or land use rights, to support restoration and improve habitat management.