Pest resistance breeding may be a technical option in large-scale or valuable commercial plantations if there: are few silvicultural options to mitigate losses to insect pests and diseases; are no alternative species; is an increasing risk of introductions of exotic pests. In order to determine the global status of research and applications regarding breeding for resistance in the forest sector, in 2006 the FAO Forestry Department, in collaboration with Alvin Yanchuk of the Tree Improvement Branch, British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Canada and Nicholas Wheeler of the Molecular Tree Breeding Services, US, conducted an informal yet comprehensive review of the topic. This 2006 review has been updated based primarily on information gathered from the recent 4th International Workshop on the Genetics of Host-Parasite Interactions in Forestry: Disease and Insect Resistance in Forest Trees, held in Eugene, Oregon, July 31 to August 5, 2011. For more details of some of the more recent research activities in pest and disease resistant breeding, see the proceedings of the meeting. It is hoped that this web resources will give practitioners and reporting agencies a snapshot of the level of activity in pest resistant breeding around the world, and help to focus it where future efforts would be best applied.