In Season 3 of Branching out: the forest podcast, we explore how scientists in IUFRO collaborate across disciplines to tackle emerging topics through Task Forces. We continue the Season with the Task Force on Stand Complexity in Planted Forests and explore the resilience and value of planted forests, and the need to address common misconceptions.

Host Gerda Wolfrum from IUFRO Headquarters and co-host Clarissa Chimeremeze Enyi, Nigeria, from the International Forestry Students' Association (IFSA), spoke with Task Force co-leads Christophe Orazio, Institut Européen de la Forêt Cultivée (IEFC), France, and Tim Payn, Bioeconomy Science Institute Maiangi Taiao, New Zealand.

Planted forests result from human intervention and are always established with a purpose; they are 'raised to solve problems', as Clarissa Chimeremeze put it. Two thirds of the world's planted forests are managed to produce goods such as timber, non-wood forest products, pulp and fiber, and bioenergy. With only 7% of the global forest area, they contribute to almost half of the industrial roundwood supply worldwide; and the global demand for wood products is expected to triple by 2050! Planted forests also provide other ecosystem services such as soil protection, carbon sequestration, water quality and habitat for wildlife.

While planted forests are extremely valuable, they are also exposed to serious challenges, just like natural forests. Climate change is a major driver as it causes hotter, drier weather, more intense storms, more frequent fires and more amenable conditions for pests and diseases. Christophe Orazio said, "There is a dominant hypothesis stating that large areas of mono-specific regular stands are more sensitive to many hazards. The Task Force explores the increase of stand complexity – by mixing species and age, introducing hedge rows, etc. – to find out what level of complexity improves resilience, what is sustainable and remains profitable."

Planted forests are often perceived negatively, a view that is not necessarily grounded in fact. There is a need to better understand why those perceptions are there and how to change them. "The key to helping people understand planted forests better is really good communication and also making it human", said Tim Payn. With a view to the IUFRO World Congress in Nairobi in 2029, he added, "I'm looking to see how we can increase understanding, come up with new approaches potentially to manage all the trade-offs between economics and the ecology and the environment and people, which is extremely important, so that we can keep planted forests moving, but in a resilient way."

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