Rob Bell

Rob Bell has 42 years’ experience in coastal and estuary engineering, risk from coastal hazards, the impacts of climate change on coastal lowland communities and infrastructure and adaptive planning for climate adaptation (including managed retreat).
Rob, formerly with NIWA, was the Lead Author of the 2017 coastal guidance for local government published by NZ’s Ministry for the Environment for planning adaptation to climate change and contributed to the forthcoming 2023 revision. The guidance pivots around the Dynamic Adaptive Pathways Planning approach to deal with the deepening uncertainty from coastal climate impacts.
Rob was a Contributing Author for the IPCC Working Group II 6th Assessment Report on climate change impacts for Australasia (2022). Rob's primary research interests are coastal hazards, sea-level rise, risk assessments and climate adaptation approaches.
Rob is a certified Resource Management Act Hearings Commissioner and Chartered Professional Engineer (Environmental).