Climate risks are uncertain butincreasing: how do we‘project’ and respond adaptively?

KEYNOTE BIO

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 latest revision. The guidance pivots around the Dynamic Adaptative Pathways Planning approach to deal with the deepening uncertainty from coastal climate impacts.

Rob was a Contributing Author for the IPCC Working Group II 6^th Assessment Report on climate change impacts for Australasia (2022). He has been involved in assessments of several coastal infrastructure projects where sea-level rise is an emerging issue, compounded with river flooding and stormwater runoff. He has explored ways to incorporate an adaptive paradigm into the delivery of infrastructure and utility services.

Rob is a certified Resource Management Act Hearings Commissioner and Chartered Professional Engineer (Environmental).