Millennium Ocean’s Prize Winners

How do you protect the ocean from a threat that starts deep inside a mining region, miles from the shore? For brothers Matías and Benjamín Sánchez Adam from Chile, the answer lies in the sky and in the hands of local youth. Together, they created a youth-led initiative - “Green Copper Dynamics” that uses NASA satellite data, low-cost environmental sensors, and machine learning to detect toxic mine drainage before it reaches the ocean. It specifically focuses on vulnerable watersheds that serve poor and indigenous communities, combining scientific monitoring with grassroots education. Matias and Benjamín will be training local youth on environmental literacy, equipping them with bilingual materials, and will lead workshops that connect mining activities to ocean health. 

“Green Copper Dynamics” stands out as it is centred around one of the biggest threats to rivers and marine ecosystems in Chile’s poorest territories - toxic mining waste. As a result, the waste harms biodiversity and local communities that are already facing other challenges such as economic and social marginalization. Due to lack of access to monitoring data or political leverage communities continue to face environmental injustices.

Photo of Matías Sánchez Adam

Matías is a Civil Industrial Engineering student at Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (UTFSM) and DAAD Deutschland Scholarship recipient, specializing in satellite geolocation and environmental risk modeling. After studying at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich, he co-founded GreenCopper Dynamics. He also formed and led a diverse, interdisciplinary team at UTFSM, securing support from NASA and national industry leaders, with the project selected as a SONDA Top-5 innovation among 800+ proposals. Matías is currently studying at HTW Saar’s European Project Semester, works at HYDAC International in Germany on Catastrophe Risk Storage Management, and serves as a Local Hub Ambassador for Mercedes-Benz beVisioneers.

Photo of Benjamín Sánchez Adam

Benjamín is a Civil Industrial Engineering student at Santa María Technical University and Policy Analysis and Research Manager for Diplomacy at Life of Pachamama. He leads the organization’s youth delegation at COP30, shaping agenda, policy briefs, and pathways for Global South participation. He serves on the European Union’s Youth Sounding Board in Chile, is a Future50 Leader with the World Economic Forum, United Nations Chile Youth Advisor, and Americas Hub Ambassador for beVisioneers: The Mercedes-Benz Fellowship, building cross-border collaborations that turn ideas into reality. Together with Matías, Benjamín co-founded GreenCopper Dynamics. He sailed as an Ocean Ambassador with the Peace Boat US’s Youth for the SDGs program and LATAM youth delegate at UNCCD COP16.

The duo’s plan is to install five environmental sensor kits in two critical watersheds, including microcontrollers, waterproof casings, solar batteries, and transmission modules. Over the next 12 months, GreenCopper Dynamics will scale a scientifically rigorous and community centered campaign to prevent acid mine drainage from reaching rivers, aquifers, and coastal ecosystems in Chile and Peru. Using NASA satellite data, stochastic Condition Based Maintenance models, and low cost sensor networks, the team will continue developing and refining early warning tools capable of detecting chemical changes before toxic leaks occur. They are collaborating closely with international allies including UN youth networks, EU partners, global research organizations, and leaders from the climate diplomacy space, while also working hand in hand with local community leaders, water committees, indigenous organizations, and youth from neighboring campuses. Together, they co design monitoring routes, share scientific training, and strengthen territorial capacity to protect their water sources. Even a single drop of acidic seepage can contaminate an aquifer that entire communities depend on. Thus, their mission is clear: to ensure these communities are never left unprotected again, armed with the technology, tools, and knowledge to defend their water.

With the support of the Millennium Oceans Prize, GreenCopper Dynamics will expand their fieldwork in a focused and responsible way to acquiring drones to reduce type II errors in the detection system, deploying fiber optic sensors in key sites, and conducting targeted field missions to one of Chile’s largest mines in coordination with industry partners to calibrate and validate our model on the ground. In parallel, they will continue developing a transparent digital dashboard that communities can use to visualize alerts without needing technical training, and will organize three online seminars to mobilize youth for SDG 14 and share what they learn along the way. Every step of this campaign is guided by accountability, careful use of resources, and long term stewardship: the prize allows Matías and Benjamín not only to advance technological innovation, but to honor the trust communities have placed in them. 

GreenCopper Dynamics enters this year with deep gratitude, scientific discipline, and a hopeful vision, one where technology protects life below water and where vulnerable territories finally receive the tools they deserve to safeguard their future.