As of 2020, the world has an estimated 290 million hectares of planted
forests and this number is continuously increasing. Plantations composed
mainly of one tree species under intensive management contribute 131
million hectares to these planted forests. Although monospecific
plantations are important in providing timber, they harbour less
biodiversity and are potentially more susceptible to disturbances than
natural or diverse planted forests. Here, we point out the increasing
scientific evidence for increased resilience and ecosystem service
provision of functionally- and species-diverse planted forests (hereafter
referred to as diverse planted forests) compared to monospecific
plantations. Furthermore, we propose five concrete steps to foster the
adoption of diverse planted forests: (1) improve awareness of benefits
and practical options of diverse planted forests among land-owners,
managers, and investors; (2) incentivize tree species diversity in public
funding of afforestation and programs to diversify current maladapted
plantations; (3) develop new wood-based products that can be derived
from many different tree species; (4) invest in research to assess
landscape benefits of diverse planted forests for functional connectivity
and resilience to global-change threats; and (5) improve the evidence
base on diverse planted forests, in particular in currently underrepresented regions, where new options could be tested.
