Professor Zhi Lü 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, the snow leopard, the Przewalski’s gazelle and the Tibetan brown bear.

In recent years, she focused on studying and practicing the mechanism of community-led conservation in western China. In particular, she initiated various experiments testing conservation tools based on economic incentives (such as carbon sequestration), cultural value (such as sacred mountain protection) and policy improvements (such as payment for ecosystem services) that may benefit local people from their conservation efforts. She is a key figure involved in conservation policy making at regional and national levels, and an active member of international conservation discussions. 

Professor Zhi Lü received her education at Peking University from 1981 (undergraduate, biology) through 1991 (PhD, animal ecology). During this time, she conducted a comprehensive research on the giant panda ecology and conservation in Qinling. Then she spent three years in the United States for a postdoc research at National Institutes of Health 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).