Bank of China - please don't do this

This was a very difficult post to write as I have a lot of respect for both China and the bank of China, an organisation that I have worked with a number of times over the years, but I have to say something as my conscience won't give me any peace. As many of you know I have spent a lot of time and money trying to help the plight of the endangered Orangutans in Sumatra and I have even built my own hotel in the rainforest - Hotel Orangutan. But I am not one of these people who think banks should immediately stop funding projects that could be seen as having an environmental impact, it's just not practical. In fairness many of these projects have huge benefit to the country that they operate in and all developed countries have damaged their environment in the past to advance their progress so we should be open minded and look for compromises to limit the negative impact and then evolve over time.

But I feel the hydro power plant project in North Sumatra is a step too far.

The 22 trillion rupiah (£1.15bn; $1.5bn) dam will be built in North Sumatra's Batang Toru forest. The region is home to the Tapanuli orangutans, which were only identified as a new species in 2017. Only 800 of them remain in the wild and they all live in this ecosystem.

One scientist, who acted as an expert witness in the case, told the BBC the move would "put the orangutans on a firm path to extinction".

This dam could doom a whole species of great ape, making it the first mass extinction of a great ape species since the Neanderthal 40,000 years ago, yes humans are great apes as well!

So please Bank of China, please rethink your decision to fund this project, don’t go down in history as the bank that made this happen, you are far too good for that.

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