This article analyses the development of international forest law in the period since the 1992 and assesses the prospects for its future success. At the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development it was assumed by some countries that creation of a global forest treaty would lead to sustainable forest management on a global scale. Opposition to the proposed treaty was, however, strong so instead, a non-binding forest instrument was agreed. Since 1992, a variety of laws, institutions, policies and programs have been created but none has significantly reduced deforestation. The creation of a global forest treaty remains on the agenda of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) and will be reconsidered in 2015. This paper considers the arguments for a global forest treaty, analyses the legal and practical difficulties which may emerge, and discusses four other paths forward within the international legal system. These include the addition of protocols to existing treaties, amendment of existing treaties, creation of regional initiatives and continuation of UNFF It argues that the implementation of existing law is limited in several key forest countries by the weak or ineffective rule of law and poor governance. This leads to the conclusion that furtherance of the rule of law and the strengthening of existing national and international institutions, not the creation of new international law, should be the immediate priority of forest law-makers.