Mario has BSc in Geography and MSc in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from the University of Seville, Spain. He spent the early years of his career producing cartography and conducting geospatial analysis in the fields of regional planning and environmental management. His experience in the marine realm started in 2014 as a student of the Erasmus Mundus Master Course in Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP), jointly granted by the University of Seville, the University of Azores, Portugal, and the University of Venice, Italy. Since completing this masters, he has worked in European MSP projects (MUSES, GPS-AZORES, PADDLE and MarSP) as a researcher while at the University of the Azores and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO).

Since 2020, he has been working at GRID-Arendal in international cooperation initiatives (Blue Solutions, Panorama – Solutions for a healthy planet, Mami Wata), developing capacities and supporting knowledge exchange for marine conservation and sustainability. Mario has been a trainer in Blue Planning in Practice workshops in the countries of the East Asia Seas (COBSEA region), Costa Rica, Mozambique, Sao Tomé and Principe and Senegal. He has also been part of a Sustainable Blue Economy training in Namibia and a Blue Leadership workshop. Additionally, Mario has an active role in MSP debate, being a member of the Marine Planners association and one of the thematic experts of the MSPglobal initiative of IOC-UNESCO.