24 Jul La Palma Reconstruction – June 2025
La Palma’s Reconstruction: June 2025 Update
News roundup from across La Palma regarding science occurring in La Palma, reconstruction efforts, aid provided to residents and industries, and other relevant news. Links to source articles are hyperlinked in taglines for each article.
Sources for all reconstruction updates: La Palma Ahora, Cabildo de La Palma, El Time, ABC España, El Valle de Aridane, El Dia, Mirame, Planeta Canario, Canarias 7, El Diario, National Geographic, El Pais, El Apurón, Diario La Palma
GeoTenerife Updates
- VolcanoStories work presented at the 2025 IAVCEI Scientific Assembly – GeoTenerife presented two projects at the 2025 IAVCEI Scientific Assembly in Geneva. The two talks were “Geoheritage and digital advocacy: Using online tools to encourage geoconservation”, talking about GeoTenerife’s conservation work in El Puertito de Adeje with IGME. The second talk, “Meeting the public where they are at by creating accessible resources with familiar tools”, showcased GeoTenerife’s work to provide publicly accessible resources relating to Canary Islands volcanism as part of the VolcanoStories project.
Reconstruction
- Alternatives for the Aridane Valley – A critical essay by La Palma Economist Pedro Higinio Álvarez Rodríguez has explored the current reconstruction ethos and vision, arguing against the current model that has destroyed much of the new lava flows and aimed to reconstruct exactly how things were, not considering many of the issues that existed before the eruption.
- 53 houses purchased for those in container houses – The Canary Islands Government and Cabildo de La Palma have purchased a development of 53 new homes in Los Llanos de Aridane, for those still living in temporary wooden or container homes.
- Office to monitor reconstruction set up – The Cabildo de La Palma is opening a new office to monitor reconstruction efforts. It aims to coordinate information exchange between the Cabildo, Canary Islands Government, and local municipalities, as well as advise citizens affected by the eruption. It will be managed by GESPLAN and cost €545,000.
- Spanish King and Queen visit La Palma – The Spanish King and Queen visited La Palma to tour the current reconstruction efforts. They toured several places to the north of the lava flows, leading some local complaints that those areas affected to the south of the lava flows has been ‘forgotten’, and other groups who are unimpressed with the reconstruction.
- La Laguna School reconstruction – The ombudsman has met with mothers of the CEIP La Laguna school, who are concerned about delays to its reconstruction. €5.2 million has been allocated to the reconstruction, but plans for demolition and reconstruction have yet to be shared.
- Campitos road reconstruction – The reconstruction of the Camptios road has begun, which will cost €2.7 million for the 1 km road that will provide direct access to 55 plots of land..
The King and Queen of Spain tour the reconstruction of La Palma on a one-hour express visit. (El Time, 2025)
Aid
- €65 million owed to La Palma for reconstruction – The President of the Cabildo de La Palma Sergio Rodríguez has denounced that the Canary Islands Government owe €25 million and the Spanish state owes €40 million for reconstruction, linked to the agreement that 50% of the reconstruction will be funded by the state, and 25% will be funded by the Canary Islands Government. He has also demanded the state to fulfill its commitments with respect to the continuation of the 60% income tax deduction for La Palma.
ASEPALMA denounces the lack of information about the funds promised to rebuild the farms buried by the volcano. El Valle de Aridane (2025)
- State government rejects exemption from tax rules – A request from the Cabildo de La Palma to be exempt from fiscal rules to facilitate reconstruction, for example budget stability and public debt objectives, has been described as ‘not possible’ by the Spanish Government. These rules were suspended in Spain from 2020-2023 due to the pandemic and Ukraine war, but have since been reactivated.
- ‘Volcano Law’ processing updates – After 1 year of processing in the Canary Islands Government, the ‘Volcano Law’, which was signed by 20,000 citizens with the aim to guarantee aid and protection for this and all future volcanic eruptions in the Canary Islands, remains stalled according to Tierra Bonita. It calls for parliament to adopt new actions to end the uncertainty around this process.
- Transparency request for agricultural aid – The Association of Fruit Packing, Exporting, and Marketing Entities of La Palma (ASEPALMA) has request information from the Spanish Government on funds transferred for agricultural recovery in La Palma and amounts spent. This is because they are concerned at the lack of significant progress, and continued uncertainty for farmers. This concerns the promised annual €50 million from the Canary Islands Government and €100 million from the Spanish state, as well as expropriation of affected agricultural land at €44.06/m2.
Science
- New coastal recovery project – As part of a new project Delta by the Canary Islands Oceanic Platform (PLOCAN) in collaboration with audiovisual company I Love The World, to document the marine recovery of the lava deltas, a series of photos have been released showing the recovery of ecosystems both on the shoreline and underwater, in only 4 years.
- More access in Puerto Naos – The Cabildo de La Palma have authorized access to 9 more homes and 2 more commercial premises in Puerto Naos, following lowering CO2 concentrations in these areas. This brings the total number of homes and commercial premises with authorization to return to 1,042 in Puerto Naos and 42 in La Bombilla. Elsewhere, the Cabildo is improving road access to Puerto Naos, now that people have begun to return.
- New scientific publications on the reconstruction – Researchers from the Cabildo de La Palma and University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria have published two journal articles on reconstruction solutions used for the roads on La Palma. The latest of the articles can be accessed here.
Other updates
- Los Llanos brings new psychologists to support those affected – A team of psychologists from the Spanish Ministry of Defense have arrived in Los Llanos to provide support for those affected by the eruption. This team specializes in supporting during disasters and emergencies.
- Volcano victims again demand PEVOLCA recordings are released – The Tierra Bonita Association has requested a report from the ombudsman through a complaint against the Canary Islands Government to release recordings of PEVOLCA meetings in the days leading up to the Tajogaite eruption, and to also review the previous report on the about the demands to release the recordings.
- New interview with those affected – A new interview by Tierra Bonita with one of the affected residents has been published, describing the residents self-evacuation from close to the location of the volcano after feeling strong tremors and noticing changes in his water temperature.
- Keynote by emergency spokesperson – Miguel Ángel Morcuende, the technical director and spokesperson of PEVOLCA during the Tajogaite volcano eruption, has given a keynote talk in which he gave his experience about sharing information during a crisis. He said that a message needs to be decided on, which must be presented clearly and with empathy, and also argued that it can be inappropriate at times to provide all the information, to avoid confusing the public.
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