Ian Cairns

Ian Cairns is on secondment to NZCEE from the Ministry for the Environment in Wellington.  He was a Senior Policy Analyst at the Ministry, most recently involved in the climate change policy work, being part of the Team that delivered the Bill for the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme.

Ian is an "old school" resource economist.  His long-term professional interest has been in questions to do with land use, and within that, he 'fesses up that his intellectual lodestone has been the concept of “wise land use”.

During his 35-year career he has:
•      worked for MAF as well as for MFE: analysis of land betterment projects; soil conservation, flood control etc; East Coast Forestry Project; Timberlands West Coast; ERMA and pesticides policy;
•      “done time” overseas in the Pacific, in Papua New Guinea, including as an agricultural adviser to the Asian Development Bank.
•      Tried kiwifruit growing in the Horowhenua and progressed to become a farm forester in the Central Hawkes Bay.

He rates climate change as being the most interesting subject area he has ever worked in.

Contact