The Western Ghats of India, in which Kudremukh Reserve is a part, is assessed to be one of the 25 hotspots identified for bio-diversity conservation in the world. Kudremukh is also the largest protected wildlife reserve of a wet evergreen shola type
of forest in the fragile Western Ghats. Privately held land enclaves located in the deep interiors of the Kudremukh Reserve are causing immense negative impacts on wildlife and biodiversity through agricultural expansion, forest fires, poaching, illegal removal of timber, commercial non-timber forest product (NTFP) extraction, increased human wildlife conflict, disturbance and restriction of animal movements due to fragmentation of the wildlife habitat.