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The relationship between Earthwatch (Europe) and Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) began in 1993, initially through the Mitsubishi Corporation Fund for Europe and Africa (MCFEA), a charitable trust based in London, established by the company to promote environmental and social projects in those regions.

The MCFEA became one of the very first members of the Corporate Environmental Responsibility Group (CERG) in 1993 and initiated an engagement programme for employees of MC’s offices in Europe in the same year. Each year since 1998, the MCFEA has supported Earthwatch’s Capacity Building Programme by offering two people from the Southern African Wildlife College the chance to participate on a specialist training project. The MCFEA is the also the sole sponsor of Earthwatch’s events programme for 2008, including its Annual Debate. The partnership between the MCFEA and Earthwatch is, therefore, continuing to grow and evolve.

In 2005, the partnership between Earthwatch and MC was further strengthened by MC’s sponsorship of the Earthwatch project Coral and Coastal Ecology of the Seychelles, as part of MC’s broader Global Coral Reef Conservation Project. This project, directly sponsored by Mitsubishi Corporation, will establish new banks of knowledge about coral reef conservation and ecology. Furthermore, Earthwatch Japan is also a project partner in MC’s Global Coral Reef Conservation Project in Okinawa, and Mitsubishi International Corporation, headquartered in New York, runs its own employee engagement programme with Earthwatch in the United States.