The Working Party promotes and facilitates the application of landscape ecology concepts in policies and practices forested landscapes worldwide.  It also encourages communication and interaction among scientists with an interest in landscape ecology and forestry. These aims are accomplished by providing a forum for the exchange of ideas; creating and maintaining personal contacts; promoting the dissemination of research results; encouraging cooperation with international organizations (e.g., IALE, FAO, IUCN, UNESCO); promoting a uniform terminology; convening periodic meetings; recognizing outstanding scientific and practical contributions; assisting in the application of scientific concepts; supporting the teaching of landscape ecology in institutions of higher learning; and broadening horizons of young researchers through workshops and topical seminars organized by the Working Party members.

The Working Party has regional representatives that help to coordinate concerted actions, identify regional needs and particular interests, spread the voice of the Working Party activities and goals to gain new members, support the organization of the Working Party conferences and organize regional workshops.

As landscape ecology advances to face new challenges in resource management and conservation, there is an urgent need to consolidate this knowledge into working models and applications. Cross-disciplinary/cultural backgrounds are required in order to devise a more realistic and relevant foundation for guiding management. Landscape ecology is the 'common language' facilitating the transfer of concepts to practitioners and the dissemination of research findings to policy makers or even the general public. The demand for input and guiding principles from landscape ecologists to resource management decision at all scales is indeed very high. Forest resources are within this context, as they constitute fundamental parts of our living landscape. Thus, forestry was the first major field to recognize the importance of landscape ecology, and today foresters widely know, use, and even develop landscape ecology principles based on practical experience. Landscape ecology is an exciting field for researchers and managers together. In this sense, landscape ecology is viewed as the nexus of ecology, resource management, and land use planning.