The natural resources and environment ministry is powerless to act against uncontrolled logging activities in area that are not gazetted as forest reserves, said its parliamentary secretary Sazmi Miah today.

According to him, the ministry can only advise state governments to adopt prudent forest management.

"Any action to be taken is the right and responsibility of the state government," he was quoted as saying in a Bernama report.

Sazmi was commenting on his statement about two months ago that uncontrolled logging activities had been detected in several water catchment and highland areas in Kelantan.

Uncontrolled felling of trees should stop and be replaced with inventory management, he said.

Sazmi said the inventory management concept calls for participation of the local community to provide information to the authorities.

"Through the involvement of the local community, forest management in each state will be more dynamic because information gathering and follow-up action can be taken more systematically," he said at the end of a two-day seminar in Kuala Lumpur.

Forestry department director-general Abdul Rashid Mat Amin said the number of illegal logging cases had dwindled due to rising public awareness on the functions and benefits of the forest.

"More people have come forward with information of such activities," he said, noting that the number of illegal logging cases last year fell to 18 compared to 149 in 1993.

Environmentalists have constantly cried foul over the wanton destruction of forests in Malaysia. There have also been cases where forest reserves have been degazetted by state governments for development and logging purposes.