Management of the human-macaque conflict occurs in three different approaches. These approaches include altering the environment where sympatry between humans and macaques occurs, altering the composition or behavior of macaque populations, or changing the behavior of human populations (Jones-Engel et al., 2011).

Jones-Engel et al. (2011) describes how landscaping is an important factor in macaque management. Trash cans can be made to be macaque-proof, and fences to keep macaques out can be made to be difficult to scale for the macaques. Litter attracts macaques, so it is important that areas with macaques are kept clean. A lot of areas of human-macaque conflict are also managed nature areas such as parks. Hence, there can also be buffer zones between the forest edges and residential areas. Even though we do not know how buffer zones will work, it is perhaps still worth experimenting with the idea. For landscaping to work, enough money needs to be spent by the government to make sure a thorough job is done.

Another possible approach would be to control the macaque population directly. For instance, in Hong Kong there is a mass contraceptive/neutering program (Shek, 2011). This contraceptive program has decreased the total birth rate of macaques by 30 percent. While contraceptive programs decrease macaque populations in the long run, they do little to affect the macaque populations in the immediate future. Furthermore, it is arguable whether the problem of human-macaque conflict is caused by having a large populations of macaques. For example, in Singapore it is estimated that there are only between 1,218 and 1,454 macaques (Sha et al., 2009a). However, there are considerable complaints regarding macaques because the macaques in Singapore are highly prolific and interface with humans regularly.

The last possible approach requires changing the behaviors of human populations. This approach may be harder than it sounds. Indeed, Sha et al. (2009b) have found that 87.6% of residents and park visitors in Singapore feel that it is important to conserve and protect macaques. Yet the same authors found that two thirds of interactions between humans and macaques occurred due to food cues, and one quarter occurred through human provocation. Hence, there is some discrepancy between what people feel and the behavior that is observed. Perhaps education can help in this area, and indeed the same study found that two thirds of those interviewed prefer education programs when it comes to the human-macaque conflict.

Having said that, education on its own will probably not work very well. This is because it is highly unlikely that education will have significant effects on behavior if there are behavior barriers to overcome. For example, people may want to invest in macaque-proof bins for their homes after being informed, yet such bins may not be readily available. Hence, the best education programs will seek to provide ways in which people can take action. It is most likely that effective management of the human-macaque conflict will require a combination of the three approaches mentioned. The different areas where human-macaque conflict occurs all have different situational contexts, hence management will largely be on a case to case basis even though there are general guidelines to follow.