Elements of success to promote sustainability in the Utah-Qinghai EcoPartnership through state-province relationship

This paper examines the Utah—Qinghai Eco-Partnership (UQEP), a joint program between the Utah, United States and the Qinghai Province, located in Western China. This unique collaboration supports research, academic exchange, and professional capacity building related to water resource utilization, wetland protection, and national park sustainability. This paper illustrates what the UQEP, and Utah-Qinghai State-Province Relationship (UQSR) has achieved among Eco-Partnership peers in the past decade. Through a review of the UQEP, we identify major factors that have contributed to this relationship including protected areas such as the Sanjiangyuan National Park, located in Qinghai Province (China's first National Park), the Giant Panda National Park, located in Sichuan Province, and the Shanxi Province, noted for its rich coal deposits. Lastly, we explain how this multi-stakeholder effort (e.g., government agencies, academic institutions, and private enterprise) and UQEP's priority programs have forged creative outcomes at the completion of the partnership in 2016.