Xiao Recio-Blanco

Program Officer, Oceans, Builders Initiative

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Xiao Recio-Blanco is an Oceans Program Officer for Builders Initiative, where he develops meaningful partnerships with those advocating for resilient marine ecosystems.

He is the former Director of the Ocean Program at the Environmental Law Institute, a Washington D.C.-based education and research center, where he specialized in ocean resources management.

He has led projects on the regulation of small-scale fisheries, the implementation of Marine Spatial Planning, the negotiation of maritime boundaries agreements, the creation of transboundary Marine Protected Areas, the regulation of deep seabed mining, the protection of biodiversity in the High Seas, and the regulation of ocean renewable energy. He has also conducted research on transparency and access to information in international fisheries and the design and enforcement of Marine Protected Areas, among other issues.

Before his time at ELI, Xiao was an attorney at Banco Santander in Madrid (Spain), an Associate Professor of international law at CIDE (Mexico City), and a Visiting Attorney at Earthjustice in Washington D.C. Xiao holds a J.D. from the Complutense University of Madrid and an S.J.D. from the Duke University School of Law.