Manuelita Montaño

Manuelita is a legal consultant at Climate Focus. Her work focuses on land use mitigation-related projects and climate policy, targeted to Latin America.

Prior to joining Climate Focus, she worked in rural development, in the implementation and design of sustainable value chains and impact models for rubber, coffee and Amazonian fruits. Additionally,  she was a consultant on the structuring of sustainable sources of energy for non-interconnected zones in Colombia. She has relevant experience conducting participatory research, addressing topics on active citizenship and indigenous communities rights. In her initial career, she worked as a lawyer in the private sector.

Manuelita holds a Bachelor of Laws from Universidad de Los Andes and an MSc in Social Development Practice (with merit) from the DPU-University College London (UCL). As part of her master’s degree, she undertook fieldwork in both London and Salvador, Brazil, focusing on the advancement of collective rights in urban contexts.

In her spare time, Manuelita enjoys yoga, trekking, diving and beekeeping. She is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish and English.