Lv Zhi: Spearheading Ecological Conservation on Campus

Editor's Note

北大的校园，亦是动植物的乐园。

"Think about how much mankind could coexist with nature harmonisouly, I think PKU is definitely a role model, "said Professor Lv Zhi.

Professor Lv of the School of Life Sciences is the executive director of PKU's Center for Nature and Society.

Now, let's follow Professor Lv's steps to learn more about the biodiversity of our campus.

Strolling around Weiming Lake, Professor Lv Zhi recognizes every creature by name: mallard, kingfisher, gold eagle, and so on. If you chance upon her while feeding ducklings by the lake, she might gently remind you not to, "We have to maintain this natural characteristic in animals…you can destress by admiring them from afar, without feeding them.”

Professor Lv of PKU School of Life Sciences calls herself a native of the PKU campus. She is dedicated to building the campus into a shared paradise for both humans and other natives: flora and fauna.

Settling on campus: discovering the abundant biodiversity at PKU

Professor Lv started her career in nature conservation in relatively rural areas, traversing areas like the mountains of Southwestern China and the Tibetan Plateau. The turning point was 2003 when she started focusing her attention on the PKU campus.

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Amazed at the great abundance of biodiversity of PKU, she began the project of surveying the flora and fauna on campus. The small plot of land of 1km² is home to over 200 types of birds and nearly 600 types of vegetation. “There are 1400 varieties of birds in China, and you can spot nearly one-seventh of these birds at PKU,” Professor Lv remarks. Furthermore, the fact that the urban campus population coexists with the wide variety of flora and fauna constitutes a remarkable example of the peaceful co-existence of men and nature. Professor Lv has since been committed to conserving the brilliance of nature on campus.

It is vegetation that gives life to biodiversity. From lush arbors to dense bushes and tender grasses, vegetation constitutes a purely natural structure that shelters birds, insects, and other animals. Professor Lv proudly introduces that almost 30,000 plants all over the campus are all native to Beijing, locally grafted or planted by a professor of PKU School of Chemistry. Today, the PKU campus stands as an eco-friendly and culturally prominent case of urban landscape design, serving as a model for other universities, local communities, and urban parks.

Conservation in progress: fostering change on campus

Gifted with such a paradise of flora and fauna, how can we cherish the grace of nature and care for creatures great and small? As the campus continues to modernize, Professor Lv noticed that the ecosystem on campus had yet to be fully established. Since the early 2000s, she has thus led efforts in pushing for better campus management that could benefit the flora and fauna. These efforts culminated in a proposal in 2018 to officially establish a “Yan Yuan Campus Natural Protected Area”. This ground-up initiative on residents themselves -- Professor Lv calls them campus “natives” -- to collect data and monitor campus ecology. The school offered strong support for this path-breaking initiative, and as it launched, PKU students, teachers and staff joined hands in ecological conservation to make a better home for humans, animals and plants alike.

On June 5, 2018, in observance of the annual World Environment Day, PKU established the post-doctoral Research Center for Ecology to further undertake the responsibility of ecological protection through first-class scientific research and education. On September 27, 2021, PKU Campus Natural Protected Area was listed as one of the “100+ Biodiversity Positive Practices and Actions From Around the World”, as announced at the fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). With the efforts of Professor Lv and her colleagues, ecological conservation at PKU has witnessed strong progress and remarkable achievements.

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Ceremony for the establishment of the Research Center for Ecology

Towards a better paradise: maintaining the peaceful co-existence

To date, the PKU campus is home to more than 600 species of higher plants and over 230 species of birds, including China’s Class I protected species, the yellow-breast bunting and gold eagle, and Class II protected species sparrowhawk, scops owl and mandarin duck. 11 varieties of animals, 26 species of fish, 11 species of amphibians, 27 species of butterflies and 26 species of dragonflies all share a living space with PKU teachers and students. The environmental monitoring work happens twice a week, led by Professor Lv and students from the Association for Green Life.

As a scholar, a nature explorer, a PKU campus native, and a leader in ecological conservation, Professor Lv dedicates herself to promoting the harmony between men and nature and inspiring more to join the cause, harnessing campus efforts to construct a shared peace for human beings, flora and fauna on campus.

Lv Zhi: Spearheading Ecological Conservation on Campus

Writer:Feng Liyuan

Editor:Li Wanqi

Photo:Wang Fang, Wu Lan, Zhang Guolao, Wen Cheng, Zhang Yong, Han Dong, Hong Yilou, Huang Zhe

Designer:Tao Pu

Video Source:News and Media Center, The Office of Confucius Institute

Video Subtitle:Joonghwee Ng, Hu Shaocong