In the past, the Sinharaja was protected largely because of its relative inaccessibility. Now the forest is no longer off the beaten track and hence there is an urgent need to protect it. The post 1978 commitment to protect the forest arose after evaluating the pros and cons of the attempt to exploit it for short term gains. Since 1978, the Forest Department under the Ministry of Lands and Land Development has given high priority to the protection of the Sinharaja, and the Department has been allocating increasing amounts of money for this cause. In 1987, this allocation was a record 4 million Sri Lanka rupees ($ 130,000). Begin one of the few nature reserved in Sri Lanka which has been conserved at an international level, the Sinharaja has also attracted considerable funds from other national and international organizations.

                          Although legally, the Sinharaja is relatively well protected, legislation alone cannot ensure true protection. Of the many constraints affecting the protection of the Sinharaja, the socio-economic ones relating to the people in the vicinity are the most important. The other resource dependants are foresters, research scientists and a few local and foreign nature enthusiasts who visit the forest. The major threat however comes from the many illegal activities that take place within the Reserve. 

                   An every increasing number of people living in the villages along the periphery of the forest are encroachers, whose rights to tenure of the land are largely undefined. Although this pressure on the land by a burgeoning population is an island-wide phenomenon not confined to the Sinharaja alone, illegal encroachment is probably one by the Forest Department in protecting the Reserve.

                          Many of the encroachments are also likely to have been legally approved by land settlement agencies. This is mainly due to the absence of a clearly demarcated boundary. Many villagers and locals still identify the Sinharaja with the vast area over which is once spread and hence do not understand the species legal status granted to the MAB Reserve. As they have traditionally used the forest in many ways, they are not aware that they are encroaching.

                          In 1978, in order to help contain this problem of encroachment, the Forest Department begin planting Caribbean Pine (Pinus caribaea) to establish a conspicuous buffer zone. Since 1985 it has concentrated upon establishing a living boundary using four rows of pines. More recently Betel Nut Palm or Puvak (Areca catechu) has also been used for this purpose. As this palm has traditionally been used by the villagers themselves to mark out their own private lands, this type of demarcation may perhaps help to mitigate their resentment against the Pines.