Jon Baines is an ocean governance and data specialists that works closely with the public and private sector to overcome roadblocks to the growth of sustainable and integrated ocean economies.

Jon received his masters degree in Ocean Systems and Policies from Edinburgh University after working  for six years on a range of ocean conservation challenges in Latin America, Africa, and South East Asia. He holds a particular passion for participatory processes, ensuring that the voices of those interacting with the ocean daily can be clearly heard at all levels of governance and decision making.

At WRI, he works on the Ocean Watch platform, and associated projects, that aims to provide governments with the tools required for equitable and sustainable ocean planning - including marine spatial planning and marine protected area planning. In a number of Small Island Developing States, he leads work to ensure that decision makers have the knowledge required to effectively create and implement ocean economy policy that can fuel the growth of the sustainable ocean economy.

His area of expertise includes the ocean economy subsectors, ocean data, equitable ocean planning processes, and the land sea interface.