Isabel Botero

Researcher

isabel.botero@creer-ihrb.org

A political scientist from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana with a focus on Public Administration, and a master’s candidate in Rural Dynamics and Globalization at the Universidad Externado de Colombia. She has over nine years of professional experience, during which she has addressed issues such as security, human rights, development, and peace in a comprehensive manner through education, research, facilitation, and institutional strengthening.

She currently serves as a researcher at the Regional Center for Responsible Business and Entrepreneurship (CREER), where she has participated in the development of projects aimed at building the capacity of communities, public officials, and the private sector regarding the Business and Human Rights agenda. Similarly, she has been involved in projects related to studying the impacts and effects of business operations on human rights, conducting context and risk analyses, and strengthening human rights due diligence mechanisms in business sectors across various industries. She is a member of Amassuru, the network of women working on security and defense issues in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and, in addition, she is a member of the Colombian Association of Style Editors (Correcta).

Working Sector

Report from the meeting with workers and trade unions

Testimony from workers and trade unions

Closures and multi-stakeholder dialogue

Full document

Executive summary

Transitional minerals

The rapid expansion of critical minerals for the energy transition and other strategic industries (agriculture, defense, technology) presents us with a paradox: the decarbonization of the planet depends on an intensification of mining activity. For CREER, this rapid expansion carries critical risks regarding human rights, local economic dynamics, and ecosystem balance. Our work focuses on analyzing these dilemmas through the lens of a just transition, promoting governance frameworks that mitigate negative impacts and ensure that the mining of “minerals for the future” is carried out under rigorous standards of sustainability, equity, and respect for fundamental rights, through dialogue among different stakeholders.

Energy Communities

We analyze the governance and sustainability challenges that arise in the implementation of decentralized generation models. Our work focuses on researching how local associative structures interact with regulatory frameworks and human rights standards. Through applied research, we assess the risks of rent capture, internal decision-making conflicts, and the conditions necessary for these self-management schemes to guarantee equitable and transparent participation in the territory.

Solar

With a focus on responsible land management and respect for local livelihoods, at CREER we apply our technical expertise in the photovoltaic sector to promote a solar transition with social integrity. Through the analysis of rural environments, the strengthening of local governance, and the design of participation mechanisms, we seek to ensure that large-scale deployment in Latin America not only contributes to the energy mix, but also strengthens the social fabric. Our purpose is to lead due diligence models that ensure solar infrastructure coexists with food security, strategic ecosystems, and the productive vocations of each community.

Resources for Territorial Planning

Peacebuilding, Citizen Participation, and Human Rights

Transformative Perspectives for a Just Energy Transition