KUALA LUMPUR: The country recorded 90 cases of illegal logging last year, of which 60 were in Sarawak alone.
Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said Perak recorded the second highest number of cases at 11 while Kelantan was close behind with 10.
"In Sabah, there were four cases, followed by Selangor (two) and one each in Johor, Pahang and Negri Sembilan.
"The criminals involved have been charged under the National Forestry Act 1984 in Peninsular Malaysia and the Forest Ordinance 2015 in Sarawak and the Forest Enactment 1968," he said in a written reply in the Dewan Rakyat.
He said this in reply to a question from Che Alias Hamid (PN-Kemaman) who wanted to know the number of illegal logging cases in the country in 2022 and how much the use of technology such as drones had managed to reduce such cases.
Nik Nazmi said, besides drones, the government was also using technolofy such as the Forest Monitoring Using Remote Sensing system (FMRS) in the peninsula, the Continuous Monitoring of Surveillance (COMOS) system and the iForSabah application in Sabah.
"These systems use Geographic Information System (GIS) technology and high resolution satellite images that can detect any changes in permanent forest reserves.
"They can help patrol teams and enforcement operations aimed at stopping any sort of illegal activity in forests by providing more specific onsite information."