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Nusa Dua, Bali. A three-day meeting of delegates from 13 tiger-range countries kicked off in Bali on Monday with a call for more stringent law enforcement to clamp down on the illegal trade threatening the big cats.

The Global Tiger Initiative, established by the Smithsonian Institution and the World Bank, told the meeting the illegal trade in tiger parts for traditional medicine and fashion accessories was the biggest threat to the species.

“There is an increase in demand,” said Keshav Varma, program director for GTI at the World Bank. “Meanwhile, countries are still not doing enough to stop these people.”

This week’s dialogue meeting is being attended by senior government officials from the 13 countries that still have wild tiger populations — India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, China, Russia, Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia — as well as nongovernmental organizations.

The Bali meet will serve as a prelude to the Tiger Summit for heads of government, scheduled for Sept. 15-18 in Russia.

Varma said the illegal tiger trade was getting more sophisticated, citing cases in Nepal, Tibet and Burma where poachers used high-tech weapons and communications equipment.

He said the rising trend was fed mostly by robust demand for tiger parts. “This is a very critical time, and current efforts to fight the tiger trade will not be enough,” he added.

Varma said initiatives by individual governments to protect tigers and crack down on the illegal trade should be followed by cross-border cooperation to ensure the effectiveness of the measures put into place.

He said the World Bank had allocated $80 million specifically for tiger conservation and recovery programs in Southeast Asia. “The fund can be used to build conservation infrastructure and implement habitat protection management,” he said.

Meanwhile, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan outlined the government’s plan to double the country’s Sumatran tiger population to prevent it from dying out, like the extinct Balinese and Javan species.

He told the meeting the government launched its Sumatran Tiger Strategy and Conservation Action Plan in 2007. “The commitment was implemented by establishing conservation centers in Jambi, Riau and Lampung provinces,” he said.

Zulkifli said his ministry was also preparing to implement stricter punishments for violations related to protected animal and plant species. “Crimes such as poaching, which only saw the perpetrators serve a month or two in jail, will soon be punishable by up to five years’ incarceration,” he said.

The total population of tigers in the wild is at an estimated all-time low of 3,200. Only six tiger subspecies remain: Bengal, Siberian, Indochinese, South China, Malayan and Sumatran.