The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015 (FRA 2015) development began in June 2011 when the FRA Advisory Group discussed the FRA Long-Term Strategy and its implications for FRA 2015. The design process involved users, national correspondents and experts from a wide variety of technical backgrounds. Ultimately, data were reported for 234 countries and territories, of which 155 reports came directly from countries themselves – countries that contain 98.8 percent of the world’s forests. The remaining 79 countries and territories (covering only 1.2 percent of the world's forest) were reported as desk studies prepared by FAO.

FRA 2015 introduced the new Collaborative Forest Resources Questionnaire (CFRQ) partnership that includes six organizations: The Central African Forests Commission, FAO Forestry (FRA), FOREST EUROPE, the International Tropical Timber Organization, the Montréal Process and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.

The CFRQ is the successful result of the joint commitment of these organizations to simplify and harmonize forest-related data collection while also reducing the reporting burden that countries face.