Abstract: As one of the core contents of the collective forest tenure system reform in China, the transfer of forest land plays a significant role in achieving large-scale, intensive and specialized management of collective forest land. However, existing research indicates that the actual effect of forest land transfer has not fully met the policy expectations, and it is urgent to further explore the reasons and optimize relevant policies to promote the healthy development of the forest land transfer market. This paper deeply explores how farmers’ cognition of property rights security affects their land transfer decisions. Firstly, it conducts a mechanism analysis of the impact of farmers’ property rights security on their forest land transfer behavior. Secondly, it analyzes the influence of farmers’ cognition of property rights security on the forest land transfer behavior of forest farmers from multiple dimensions such as property rights cognition, property rights policy cognition, and property rights security cognition. Finally, it proposes strategies to improve the efficiency of land transfer through policy intervention.