Dr Cairo Forrest BSc (Hons), PhD (Ecology/Genetics) | Accredited Assessor
Practice Leader – Ecology

Cairo is a Practice Leader in the Niche ecology team drawing on his extensive scientific and consultancy career spanning 15 years working across university, government and private sectors. Cairo has worked extensively as a consultant in NSW conducting ecological impact assessment, management planning, ecological monitoring, offsetting, and project management of small, medium to large projects.
 
Cairo has thorough knowledge of State and Federal planning frameworks and their application. He has a strong knowledge of threatened species assessment within the Sydney basin and remote areas of western NSW and is especially knowledgeable in the field of biodiversity offsetting and is an accredited BAM assessor. For the last three and a half years Cairo has project managed Niche’s largest ever biodiversity offsetting project (The Inland Rail Offsetting Program), which is also the largest offsetting project in NSW by some margin. This project involves technical and administrative excellence to coordinate the selection and development of Biodiversity Stewardship Sites around regional NSW. This involves the management of a large internal and sub-contractor workforce to deliver the program to tight timeframes and a degree of flexibility and adaptability to respond to a dynamic program where strategy can change rapidly and to meet all stakeholders wishes.
 
Cairo combines his knowledge and experience with conservation principles to assist his clients in achieving robust and innovative solutions for their projects to achieve win win scenarios for the client and the environment.