Mountain Forum is a membership driven, decentralised global network of networks. It is composed of five regional nodes in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and Latin and North America, as well as a global secretariat located in Kathmandu, Nepal. The regional nodes and the Mountain Forum Secretariat (MFS) are autonomous organisations, which function independently, hosted by partner institutions.

The Mountain Forum Secretariat coordinates Mountain Forum's governance, provides global information services, and promotes and represents the network at international forums. MFS supports and reports to the Mountain Forum Board, which is an eight-member international Board of Directors which includes representatives from all the host institutions, elected representatives of members of Mountain Forum, a representative of Mountain Forum's major supporting agency, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and an observer from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, which is the host organisation of Mountain Forum's major partner, the Mountain Partnership.