China’s increasingly well-off citizens no longer care only for material comfort, but also about quality of life, with mounting concerns about clean air, water and soil. While the government has taken steps to address these problems, concrete action requires the participation of all sectors of society, from businesses to civil society organisations to individuals. To bring management expertise to bear on the problem and support civic efforts to advance environmental preservation goals, a group of business people founded the Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology (SEE) in 2004. The SEE Foundation now supports climate mitigation efforts and other environmental protection projects throughout China, ranging from reforestation to wilderness protection to clean water initiatives. In this lecture, DIAO Sitong will introduce some of the projects on which SEE is currently working to illustrate the ways in which entrepreneurs, NGOs and the general public can engage to develop innovative approaches to sustainable development.

DIAO Sitong is a major gifts project manager at the Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology (SEE) where she is responsible for managing major donors, overseas cooperation and corporate relationships, and has worked on projects such as Ant Forest (Alipay) and 2018 Earth Day (Apple).

Prior to joining SEE, she was a research officer at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS China), involved in the SNAPP (Science for Nature and People Partnership) project to maximize the impact of China’s upcoming ivory trade ban. She holds an undergraduate degree in economics and finance and a Master in Management from the University of Melbourne.