n Japan, recent successes in population recoveries of large-sized mammals such as the Japanese macaque, sika deer, wild boar and black bear have provoked and intensified conflicts between people and these wild mammals. The key exacerbating causes of these conflicts have been the drastic changes in the interrelations between the people, forests, and wildlife, as well as the unprecedented social changes in modern Japan, i.e., nationwide human depopulation. Though damage management techniques are potential solutions, Prof. Hiroto Enari from Yamagata University thinks that a limiting factor to this conflict resolution is the inadequate responses to the key causes of the physical and psychological hollowing-out of communities across Japan. To seek a feasible resolution for this problem, Prof. Enari proposes to restructure community designs to be appropriate for the new era of shrinking communities. This session will be hosted by Dr John Sha, Senior Researcher of NParks’ Wildlife Management Research team.