Some pension-fund managers are venturing further into unusual investment territory as this year’s plunge in bond yields makes it harder to find decent long-term returns.

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Funds are dabbling in riskier asset classes, including private markets, real-estate projects, infrastructure financing and direct lending. Some are making riskier fixed-income bets, buying volatile assets such as 100-year Argentine government bonds. Others are going farther afield, investing in greenhouses and waste management.

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“How do we get those types of return in an environment with low interest rates?” said Duncan Hale, a portfolio manager at Willis Towers Watson, which offers insurance brokering, risk management and investment advisory services.

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He said he looks for tried-and-tested investment avenues that are “slightly outside of where you’ve seen pension funds usually invest.”

Government-bond yields, which have climbed world-wide in recent days from the lows that they plumbed over the summer, still continue to reflect historically unprecedented levels of weakness. Globally, about $12.5 trillion in debt offer subzero yields, according to Deutsche Bank Securities, though that is down from a peak of $17 trillion in August.

The giant pools of retirement money are under pressure to take on more risk following decades of declining interest rates that have chipped away at returns from their traditional bond-heavy portfolios. Those concerns have been exacerbated this year as yields on government bonds dropped sharply and central banks loosened monetary policy to stimulate economic growth.

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