A dam project in Guinea would swamp the wildlife refuge with the largest population of western Chimpanzees — 1500 of them. This would be a substantial reduction in the population of that subspecies — perhaps as much as 9% — and large populations preserve more genetic diversity much more.

The fact that a Chinese company has been hired to build the dam seems like an incidental detail to me. The government and its funding sources made the decision to build there; they alone could cancel it.

However, the choice of that Chinese company means that China is likely to pressure not to cancel the project.