This is the 2nd Annual Lecture on Environment in China

Co-existence of human and nature is an ultimate goal of conservation. While the world biodiversity hotspots are mostly located in developing regions, such a co-existence becomes challenging. Based on 35 years of experiences in China, the country that covers a wide range of population and development intensities, Professor Lu Zhi will share her case studies from different regions in China to analyze how cultural, economic and political drivers influence decisions and behaviors of local communities with regard to ecological conservation.   

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Professor Lu Zhi is a leading conservation biologist in China whose research covers multiple-disciplinary fields and deals with the complex sustainability issues for the Chinese society as well as promoting China’s positive influence toward the world. The field projects she leads include the ecosystem services of forests and grasslands, and natural history and conservation strategies of endangered species such as the giant panda and the snow leopard. In recent years, she focused on studying and practicing the mechanism of community-led conservation and opportunities of coexistence between human and nature in both rural and urban areas. In particular, she initiated various experiments testing conservation tools based on economic incentives, cultural value and policy improvements that may benefit local people from their conservation efforts.

Professor Lu Zhi received her education at Peking University from 1981 (undergraduate, biology) through 1991 (PhD, animal ecology). During this time she conducted comprehensive research on the giant panda ecology and conservation in Qinling. Then she spent three years as a postdoc researcher at National Institutes of Health in the United States on conservation genetics (1992-1995). Later she took a fellowship at Harvard University Center for Population and Development (2000-2001), and taught at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies as a visiting professor (2001-2002).