It has established memoranda of understanding with, for instance, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Conservation Union (IUCN), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), and International Forestry Students' Association (IFSA).

IUFRO honors through a variety of awards those who advance science and promote international cooperation in all fields of research related to forestry.

The structure of the Union comprises the following IUFRO Units: Divisions with Research Groups and Working Parties; Task Forces, Special Programmes, Projects, IUFRO-led Initiatives and (formerly) Chapters.

At present there are nine permanent Divisions, sub-divided into Research Groups and Working Parties IUFRO Task Forces are interdisciplinary and are established on a temporary basis.

The activities of SPDC include training workshops, scientist assistance and mobility programs as well as thematic networking especially in the field of forest and landscape restoration.

GFEP mainly produces interdisciplinary scientific assessment reports on key issues emerging from international policy debates.

The Special Project World Forests, Society and Environment (IUFRO-WFSE) is coordinated by the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

[7] In 1890, the International Agriculture and Forestry Congress in Vienna, Austria, proposed to establish a "central organ" for applied forest research in the European countries.

In the years to follow, the organization lost its Central European character as more representatives from Africa, Asia and the Americas joined.

Gradually the development led to the well-known Oxford System of Decimal Classification (ODe) for Forestry in the 1950s[8][9] The 1950s and 1960s were a period of steady growth.

At the 125th Anniversary Congress in 2017 in Freiburg, Germany, the slogan “Interconnecting Forests, Science and People” was adopted as part of the logo.