The upper reaches of Sungai Terengganu was once a pristine lowland tropical rainforest dissected by slow moving steams inhabited by large varieties of flowering plants, insects, fishes, frogs, lizards, birds and mammals. The forest was once the stomping ground for the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros endangered Malayan tigers, elephants, gaurs and gibbons. Due to the rapid economic development and high energy demand to feed the industrialised western coast states, a mega-hydroelectric dam was constructed that inundated about 209,199 hectares of the primary wildlife habitat in 1986. Access roads were constructed to extract timers and for the establishment of industrial agricultural plantations in the Hulu Terengganu district. The booming economy has created new jobs, business opportunities and has changed the livehood and lifestyles of the local kampong communities and Orang Asli around Tasik Kenyir and Kuala Berang. The economic progress has compromised the security of the biodiversity around Tasik Kenyir. Suddenly, the Sumantran rhinoceros become extinct. The gibbon vocalization unheard any more. Faraway illegal hunters came from Laos, Cambodia and Thailand to take away our biodiversity. Some were arrested intruding our protected forest and poaching wildlife and our natural resources to feed the lucrative black market economy.

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