Juan Carlos Santamarta (ULL), David Porter (president of ICE), César Paradinas (FICLIMA) and Chris Binnie, the engineer who gives his name to the award, at the ceremony held in London.
The climate and environmental information platform SICMA Canarias, Developed by the University of La Laguna in collaboration with Meteogrid and FICLIMA, it has received the Chris Award in London. Binnie Award for Sustainable Water Management 2025, The award, granted by the Institution of Civil Engineers of the United Kingdom, was presented yesterday, Thursday, July 2nd, at the institution's headquarters in Westminster, during the annual ICE Awards ceremony, which recognizes some of the leading international achievements in civil engineering, infrastructure, and professional contributions to the sector.
The professor at the University of La Laguna Juan Carlos Santamarta, coordinator of the SICMA Canarias project together with Noelia Cruz Pérez, The award was presented by David Porter, president of the Institution of Civil Engineers. The prize recognizes the “Water and Climate Change in Islands: SICMA-Canarias” project for its contribution to sustainable water management. According to the organization's official statement, the Chris Binnie Award panel acknowledged the project for its “broad, strategic, and replicable impact, especially in islands and arid regions,” and noted that it should be considered a benchmark for the institution itself.
This is the first time a Spanish-led initiative has received this recognition in the field of sustainable water management. The research team also received congratulations from Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain, who emphasized that the project's scope and international reach are "a source of satisfaction and pride for Spanish research and engineering.".
During his speech, Juan Carlos Santamarta highlighted the work carried out by the research and technical team that made the platform possible and stressed that the Canary Islands can become a world example for the efficient management of water in island environments, due to their historical experience in the use of groundwater, seawater desalination, reuse, agricultural adaptation and the incorporation of advanced climate information into public planning.
“The Canary Islands not only suffer the direct effects of climate change on water, but can also provide useful solutions for other island territories and vulnerable regions.” He added that “the challenge is no longer just generating climate data, but transforming it into understandable, geographically relevant, and useful information for those who must make decisions about water, agriculture, infrastructure, and land use.”.
For his part, FICLIMA climatologist César Paradinas Blázquez pointed out that “climate data are only useful when they are translated into information applicable to the real management of the territory, and that has been the objective of this joint work with the University of La Laguna.”.
The Chris Binnie Award is one of the leading international recognitions in the field of water engineering and sustainable water resource management. Its award to SICMA Canarias reinforces the profile of a tool developed in the Canary Islands and designed to improve public decision-making in the context of climate change.
Climate projection platform
SICMA Canarias is an open digital platform that transforms complex climate projections into accessible information for government agencies, technicians, researchers, businesses, farmers, and the general public. It allows users to consult scenarios for temperature, precipitation, aridity, and other climate variables with high territorial resolution and a time horizon extending to the end of the century. Its purpose is to support hydrological planning, agricultural management, land-use planning, and the adaptation of the islands to scenarios of increased pressure on water resources.
The platform is part of a consolidated line of research on water resources in volcanic islands, climate change, water governance, and the vulnerability of critical infrastructure. It was developed within the framework of ARSINOE, a European Horizon 2020 project focused on climate adaptation through systemic innovation. Through participatory processes and Living Labs, various stakeholders linked to water, agriculture, public administration, research, and business identified the need for open, territorially relevant, and useful climate information for planning. SICMA Canarias directly addresses this need.
In approximately a year and a half, SICMA Canarias has received over 20,000 inquiries and is being used as technical support in the development of the new hydrological plans for the Canary Islands. Furthermore, the Government of the Canary Islands has recognized its value as a tool for water management in the archipelago, confirming its institutional utility and its contribution to more proactive and evidence-based water planning.
The recognition from the Institution of Civil Engineers adds to the Canary Islands Sustainable Economy Award and the consideration of the Canary Islands case study in the ARSINOE project as a European success story. These milestones consolidate the international dimension of a platform that combines climate science, water engineering, digitalization, and public knowledge transfer.
(Caption: Juan Carlos Santamarta (ULL), David Porter (president of ICE), César Paradinas (FICLIMA) and Chris Binnie, the engineer who gives his name to the award, at the ceremony held in London.
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