In 2017 the Guinean government created the Moyen-Bafing National Park to protect the habitat of some 4,000 West African chimpanzees. Conservationists celebrated the move all around the world. Guinea is considered to have the world's healthiest WA Chimpanzee population. The national park would ensure the country's chimps and possibly the entire species would survive.
But oh how quickly things have changed. According to the Guardian, a little less than half of the park's apes could be killed if the Chinese and Guinean governments get their way. Sinohydro, a Chinese hydroelectric power plant construction company, is in talks with the Guinean government to build the proposed Koukoutamba dam. The dam, if built, will flood a significant portion of the park that was just created.
Synohydro is up there with poaching as our world's most significant threat to primates. They are already responsible for building a dam in Indonesia that threatens the survival of one of the world's most recently discovered and rarest apes — the Tapanuli orangutan.
The global WA Chimpanzee population numbers around 16,500 individuals. The 4,000 that live in the Guinean highlands thrive, while in other countries, they number less than 100 individuals or have gone extinct altogether. If this dam is approved, the entire remaining population of WA chimps could be cut by nearly 10% in one fell swoop.
Guinea is one of the world's poorest nations, and they have the right to earn income and provide electricity to its citizens. But there must be a way of doing it without threatening the existence of another species, especially one as iconic to Africa as the chimpanzee.
Please sign the petition and tell Synohydro and the Guinean government to find an alternative to the Koukoutamba dam, one that doesn't threaten any endangered species.
