To make recommendations for integrated policies and guidelines concerning forestry and its ecological development; To work out programs for establishing a forestry law system and make annual work plans; To draft relevant laws and regulations, and work out sectoral regulations and rules; To supervise forestry administrative law enforcement and coordinate major issues concerning administrative law enforcement; To handle administrative appeals, administrative reconsiderations and hearings in forestry sector; To undertake the work related to forestry administrative licensing.

To organize and guide international forestry cooperation and exchange; To organize major international events of forestry and its ecological construction and implement international conventions; To sign and implement relevant international treaties, agreements and protocols; To be responsible for forestry affairs involving Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan; To examine, approve and implement projects involving international cooperation and exchange; To undertake development of Asia-Pacific network of forest rehabilitation and sustainable management.

To be responsible for matters related to personnel and institutional settings of the administration and its directly affiliated institutions; To direct development and implementation of training and educational plans for human resources in forestry; To direct team building in forestry sector.

To organize and carry out national inventory, dynamic monitoring and evaluation of forest resources, and release relevant information; To develop policy measures and technical regulations for sustainable development of forest resources, and set national quota on forest logging; To undertake the work related to management of forestland and forest ownership; To supervise acquisition, occupation and development & utilization of forestland, and undertake preliminary examination of acquisition and occupation of forestland to be approved by the State Council according to law; To manage state-owned forest resources and supervise their management bodies in the key state-owned forest regions; To examine and approve transfers and changes of property rights of forest resources in the key state-owned regions; To direct and supervise licensed timber harvesting and transportation; To manage and supervise the operations and standardization of supervisory bodies stationed in various regions by the State Forestry Administration.

To work out development strategy, long- and mid-term plans of forestry and its ecological construction, and monitor their implementations; To organize and direct the establishment and practice of a mechanism of ecological compensation in forestry and ecological construction; To prepare and implement sectoral budget, make budget proposals on transfer payments of earmarked funds for forestry allocated from the central government finance; To manage and supervise central government funds earmarked for forestry; To examine and approve major forestry development projects, and make proposals on scales of investment in forestry fixed assets; To prepare annual plans for forestry and its ecological construction; To be responsible for statistics.