In late 2013 the Communist Party of China held its 18th National Congress, with one stated objective being to “promote ecological civilization and build a beautiful China.” This state-level objective is particularly important in Southwest China, which holds some of the world’s most prolific biodiversity. Multiple, innovative strategies exist to help decision makers best understand and manage this biodiversity for the benefit of current and future generations. In the face of climate change, solutions for conserving biodiversity and supporting strong regional sustainable development require focused research and application of innovative conservation strategies, both of which can help support China in achieving its National Congress goals. The Chengdu Institute of Biology, and the University of Wisconsin – Madison Nelson Institute are organizing this workshop to help foster meaningful collaborations between our Institutes, and with outside partners to explore conservation strategies that contribute to the maintenance of SW China’s biodiversity. Building on the success of the CIB delegation visit to Madison this past November 2013, our overarching goal for this workshop is to a) Further build upon ideas for shared conservation research and practitioner training and b) Improve bi-lateral knowledge transfer that supports the missions of each University, and all engaged partners in support of locally driven Chinese priorities for conservation management. The goal of the UW-Madison at this workshop, in specific, is to find niches identified through dialogue with Chinese partners where we can offer our expertise towards stated Chinese conservation research and management goals. The following targets are proposed as focal points for conversation on research and management exchange between partners at the March 17 and March 18 workshop.