a method and an apparatus for failure notification are provided . the method includes : sending , when it is detected that a failure occurs in a multicast label switch path , failure information to a downstream node of a multicast tree where a failed point locates , where the multicast label switch path is established based on a multicast label distribution protocol ; and forwarding the failure information through the downstream node , where the failure information arrives at a leaf node of the multicast tree where the failed point locates . according to the method and the apparatus for failure notification of the present invention , finally , the failure information is transmitted to a leaf node . after the failure information is obtained , the leaf node may take appropriate measure to ensure the normal service and improve the reliability of the network .