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Thanks for your interesting and detailed response Leo. Unfortunately, as ecosystems get more and more fragmented the ability of them to respond and rebound from natural or artificial disturbance is impaired. Each place is unique and has its own specific regime. People who wish to manage such lands indeed should err on the side of caution, but in the end, "island systems" are always at risk and extinction of species, if only locally, is inevitable.

The real upshot here is not so much about management as it is about how we live on this planet and values we hold about it. Personally, I think we need to go to a mosaic pattern - "wild" lands dispersed and interconnected and humans spread throughout. Also, the greening of cities is the primary issue, especially here in Asia where populations are soaring. Exactly how that can be done needs to be researched and explored pronto. The truth is we are running out of time to explore such opportunities since environmental change is coming so swiftly to essentially the whole globe.