At its annual meeting on November 19, the Board of Directors of the Mitsubishi Corporation Foundation for the Americas (MCFA) approved an aggregate of $1,000,000 in annual support of environmental causes, including both new and continuing grants.

New grants include: $163,937 payable over four years to Amazon Conservation Association, $80,000 payable over two years to the National Audubon Society, $65,000 payable over three years to E+Co, $27,350 to Fundación Natura, $40,000 payable over two years to Tierra Nativa, and $150,000 payable over three years to Wild Salmon Center. Also included were a $10,000 grant to International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP) for its annual conference, and a general support grant of $15,000 to the Environmental Grantmakers Association (EGA).

Here is how the money will be spent (below there are some of the projects):

MCFA’s grant to Amazon Conservation Association will be used to create a Biological Conservatory and Learning Center adjacent to Manu National Park in Peru. The center’s purpose will be to educate visitors, support new research, and create jobs for local communities.

With MCFA’s support, E+Co, which makes clean energy investments in developing countries, will develop a series of workshops for solar energy entrepreneurs in Central America, while promoting best practices for solar energy startups.

MCFA’s grant to Fundación Natura will fund the realization of a symposium where indigenous women from various Latin American countries will participate in a conference on the global water crisis at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá.

The MCFA Board also authorized the payment of a four-year $1,000,000 grant to the Wildlife Conservation Society for coastal conservation work along the Patagonia coast of Argentina; a five-year $400,000 grant to O Boticário Foundation for the Oasis Project, a watershed conservation project in Brazil involving payments for ecosystem services (PES); and a three-year $60,000 grant to American Bird Conservancy for its «Women for Conservation» project in Colombia.