The Mitsubishi Corporation Foundation for the Americas (MCFA), based in New York City, was established as the Mitsubishi International Corporation Foundation in 1991 with funding from Mitsubishi Corporation, and its U.S.- based subsidiary, Mitsubishi International Corporation. With a current endowment of approximately $5.75 million, the MCFA has committed nearly $5.4 million to environmental projects throughout the Americas.
The mission of the MCFA is to promote environmental causes throughout the Americas in the broadest sense, which encompasses both the physical and social environments in which we live. In furtherance of the mission the MCFA supports a wide range of projects in the following four categories:
- Environmental Education
- Conservation and Biodiversity
- Environmental Justice
- Sustainable Development
MCFA Gives One Million Dollar Grant to Wildlife Conservation Society for Conservation Work in Argentina
The MCFA gave its first million dollar grant, payable over four years, to the Wildlife Conservation Society to promote the conservation of the Patagonian coast and Southwestern Atlantic Seascape in Argentina. This unique coastal and marine ecosystem contains highly productive habitats which support squid and fin-fish resources, a large and diverse community of dependent predator species and a spectacular wild shoreline where huge numbers of marine birds and mammals breed. The breeding and feeding aggregations of some of the species that congregate on the coast of Patagonia constitute some of the most important wildlife spectacles on earth.
The MCFA support is directed to five specific projects within the Patagonian Coastal Management Plan, a multifaceted approach developed by WCS and various stakeholders for the purpose of preserving this unique natural setting:
- Southern elephant seal research
- Seabird surveys
- Southern giant petrel research
- Technical support for the Golfo San Jorge National Park, the first truly coastal marine national park of Argentina
- Research and data analysis for WCS's Sea & Sky program, the first attempt at integrating research on individual species, biology and entire ecosystems in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean.
