If the World's net forest area continues to decline at a present rate, it will take approximately 775 years to lose all forests on Earth. Despite of the alarming deforestation and forest degradation tendency a universal global convention on forests doesn't exist yet. A possible legally binding instrument on all types of forests will be considered during the eleventh session of the United Nations Forum on Forests in May, 2015. Prior to this event, the article studies deforestation and forest degradation as a global environmental problem, discusses the reasons for the absence of a universal global agreement on forests and briefly investigates some international law principles, norms and instruments, which already regulate forests on the international level.