Under the scheme, Australia will build satellite receiving stations to help countries in the Asia-Pacific monitor their forest cover, carbon output, and illegal logging.
Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull says countries attending today's climate gathering are expected to back the plan.
"[Indonesia] have really welcomed this initiative because plainly what we need to achieve is to have real accountability," he said.
"We are going to need technology, we are going to need money, we are going to need goodwill and cooperation.
"Some of the largest deforesters in the world will be there. There's no point funding the protection of the forest in one valley when the adjoining valley is all clear-felled."
But Greenpeace spokesman Stephen Campbell says the Federal Government would be better off banning illegal timber imports into Australia.
"We import about $400 million worth of illegal timber every year," he said.
Ministers from the United States, Brazil and Indonesia will attend the meeting which winds up in Sydney on Wednesday.
The international conference, which will run for three days from Monday, is the first opportunity for countries to signal their support for Mr Turnbull's Global Initiative on Forests and Climate Change.