The UN Forum on Forests is a functional commission of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) with universal membership. Since its establishment in 2000, the Forum has set many milestones including the first UN Forest Instrument in 2007, the Global Forest Financing Facilitation Network (GFFFN) in 2015, and adoption of the first UN Strategic Plan for Forests 2030 and its six Global Forest Goals in 2017.

UNFF21 is convened as a policy session, focusing on strengthening policy guidance and accelerating implementation of agreed forest-related commitments.