Marcia Moreno-Báez

Marcia Moreno-Báez is a Research Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Marcia has extensive experience in coastal and marine conservation and fisheries management in Mexico, with a particular focus on the Gulf of California. She has contributed to multiple conservation and restoration planning initiatives across the region, Mexico and Latinamerica. Her work centers on understanding the socioecological dynamics of coastal communities, with an emphasis on sustaining ocean health and advancing community-led resource management and conservation. Currently, Professor Moreno Báez analyzes geospatial data to identify priority areas for regenerative management activities and assesses key enabling conditions, including governance, technology, human capacity, and innovative finance, that support the effective implementation of blue spots and regenerative blue economy initiatives. While her work is grounded in the needs and perspectives of small scale fisheries, her interdisciplinary approach fosters active collaboration across sectors, enabling more comprehensive, community grounded solutions to complex challenges and supporting strategic investments that strengthen long term ecological, economic, and social resilience.

Marcia has over 25 years of experience applying geospatial tools across government, academia, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector. She teaches courses on geospatial technology, with a focus on the development and application of spatial methods in areas such as territorial and marine planning, and natural resource management.

She is affiliated with the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP), the Climate Policy Lab, and the Henry J. Leir Institute for Migration and Human Security, all based at Tufts. She is also co-founder and advisor of dataMares, an initiative that improves access to scientific data and knowledge; a collaborating professor with the NIPPON Foundation's Ocean Nexus program; and a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on the Regenerative Blue Economy.