The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment is a position in the Scottish Government cabinet responsible for the Environment and Rural Affairs department

Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department

The Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department was a civil service department of the Scottish Executive. SEERAD was responsible for the following areas in Scotland: agriculture, rural development, food, the environment and fisheries...

. The Cabinet Secretary responsibilities include agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

, fisheries

Fishing industry in Scotland

The fishing industry in Scotland comprises a significant proportion of the United Kingdom fishing industry. A recent inquiry by the Royal Society of Edinburgh found fishing to be of much greater social, economic and cultural importance to Scotland than to the rest of the UK. Scotland has just...

, environment

Natural environment

The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....

 as well as land reform

Land reform

[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...

 and sustainable development

Sustainable development

Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...

. The current Cabinet Secretary is Richard Lochhead

Richard Lochhead

Richard Neilson Lochhead is the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment and the Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for Moray.-Background and early career:...

 who is assisted by the Minister for Environment, Stewart Stevenson

Stewart Stevenson

Stewart Stevenson is a Scottish politician who became a member of the Scottish Parliament in 2001....

.

History

The position was created in 1999 as the Minister for Rural Affairs it was renamed as the Minister for Rural Development in 2000 and again in 2001 as the Minister for the Environment and Rural Development, the current position of Cabinet Secretary was created following the 2007 election

Scottish Parliament election, 2007

The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999...

.

List of office holders

Minister for Rural Affairs
Name	Entered Office	Left Office	Party
	1.	Ross Finnie Ross Finnie Ross Finnie is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician and former Member of the Scottish Parliament. He is a former Minister for the Environment and Rural Development in the Scottish Executive, and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the West of Scotland region...	19 May 1999	26 October 2000	Liberal Democrats Scottish Liberal Democrats The Scottish Liberal Democrats are one of the three state parties within the federal Liberal Democrats; the others being the Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Liberal Democrats in England...
Minister for Rural Development
		Ross Finnie Ross Finnie Ross Finnie is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician and former Member of the Scottish Parliament. He is a former Minister for the Environment and Rural Development in the Scottish Executive, and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the West of Scotland region...	26 October 2000	22 November 2001	Liberal Democrats Scottish Liberal Democrats The Scottish Liberal Democrats are one of the three state parties within the federal Liberal Democrats; the others being the Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Liberal Democrats in England...
Minister for the Environment and Rural Development
		Ross Finnie Ross Finnie Ross Finnie is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician and former Member of the Scottish Parliament. He is a former Minister for the Environment and Rural Development in the Scottish Executive, and Member of the Scottish Parliament for the West of Scotland region...	22 November 2001	16 May 2007	Liberal Democrats Scottish Liberal Democrats The Scottish Liberal Democrats are one of the three state parties within the federal Liberal Democrats; the others being the Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Liberal Democrats in England...
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment
	2.	Richard Lochhead Richard Lochhead Richard Neilson Lochhead is the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment and the Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for Moray.-Background and early career:...	16 May 2007	Incumbent	Scottish National Party Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....

See also

• List of Scottish ministers of the environment