The Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Belarus is a republican body of state management and submits to the Government of Republic of Belarus. The minister appointed to a position by the President of Republic of Belarus is at the head of the Ministry.

The Ministry of Forestry coordinates the activities of other republican bodies of state administration, local Executive and administrative bodies, legal entities involved in forestry, regardless of the form of ownership,  in the field of use, preservation and protection of state forest fund and reproduction of forests. Such legal entities include state forestry agencies of the Ministry of Forestry, forest enterprises and forest districts of the Ministry of defence of the Republic of Belarus, the experimental forest bases of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus, training and experimental forest enterprises of the Ministry of education of the Republic of Belarus, state nature protection institutions, which manages the nature reserves and national parks, forestry enterprises of the Administration of the President of Republic of Belarus, the Minsk aesthetic forestry.

Some issues are solved jointly or in coordination with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection (for example, approval of rules for the use of animals related to hunting objects, making proposals for the allocation of forests by groups and categories of protection, transferring them from one group to another, etc.). The Ministry of Forestry cooperates with local executive and administrative bodies in solving economic, social and other issues.

The Ministry of Forestry, within its competence independently, and in necessary cases, jointly with ministries and other republican government bodies, issues regulatory legal acts that are binding on all legal entities, regardless of departmental ownership and ownership.  The Ministry of Forestry has the right to request and receive necessary information from ministries and other state bodies on matters related to forest management, preservation and protection of the state forest fund, woody and shrubby vegetation that is not part of the state forest fund, and the reproduction of forests.

Main objective of the Ministry of Forestry of Republic of Belarus is to ensure rational and inexhaustible use of forests, their preservation, protection and reproduction, based on the principles of sustainable forest management and conservation of biological diversity of forest ecosystems, conservation of biological diversity of forest ecosystems, the preservation and strengthening of environment forming, water protective,  sanitary, recreational and other functions of forests, increase of their resource potential, satisfaction of needs of society in forest resources on the basis of scientifically-based, multi-purpose forest management.

The main tasks of the Ministry of Forestry are:

• realization of functions of state regulation in the field of forestry;

• implementation of a unified state policy in the field of use, preservation and protection of the state forest fund and reproduction of forests, coordination of activities in this area of ​​other republican government bodies, local executive and administrative bodies, legal entities regardless of ownership;

• increasing the productivity of forests, ensuring the creation and cultivation of forest plantations on the basis of extensive use of scientific and technical achievements in order to fully meet the needs of the economy and the population in all types of forest products;

• state control over the state, use, preservation and protection of the state forest fund and reproduction of forests;

• implementation of measures for the preservation and protection of forests;

• implementation of a unified economic policy in the field of forestry ensuring the creation of the necessary conditions for the effective operation of legal entities who are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry.