Future Problem Solving International (FPS)’s topic for their 2026 World Finals is one with roots that run deep through critical industries like construction, medicine, energy, and agriculture.

This year’s topic is forestry, and it asks students to tackle the central challenge: How might we protect our vital forests while sustaining forestry for building, medicine, and jobs in the future?

This question rests at the intersection of environmental science, economics, and health, and now, it rests in your students’ hands.

Why Forestry? Why Now?

Forests stretch across nearly a third of the Earth’s land surface and shelter an extraordinary range of life—roughly 80% of all terrestrial plant, animal, and microbial species. They filter our air, purify our water, and serve as one of nature’s most powerful tools against climate change.

When it comes to our climate, deforestation weakens the water cycle, leading to irregular rainfall patterns including drought and flooding. While deforestation may occur locally, these effects are global. Especially when forests are disappearing at an alarming rate.

An estimated 15 billion trees are cut down every year, and human civilization has already lost nearly half of the world’s native forests since we first began clearing land thousands of years ago. And we aren’t just losing lush, beautiful landscape. We’re losing access to clean air and drinking water.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, three quarters of the world’s freshwater comes from forested watersheds, and over a third of urban centers rely on forested watersheds for their drinking water. In fact, of the world’s 105 largest cities, 33 rely heavily on nearby protected forest lands as a primary factor in drinking water availability and quality—from New York and Boston to Bogotá, Cape Town, and Madrid.

The consequences of deforestation extend far beyond the environment, though. An estimated 250 million people live in forests and nearly 2 billion people directly depend on them for their livelihoods.

Timber fuels the construction and manufacturing industries, and sustainable forestry supports jobs far beyond lumber production. In health care, for example, over 25% of the medicines we use today trace back to rainforest plants, yet only a fraction of the plants that exist have been studied for their medicinal potential. The forests we’re losing may hold cures we haven’t discovered yet. 

For our future generations, the challenge, and the opportunity, lies in finding the balance between preservation and responsible use. This is exactly the kind of complex, multifaceted problem that Future Problem Solving (FPS) is designed to help students navigate.

What Students Will Explore

The FPS Forestry topic invites students to dig into questions like:

• What can be done to prevent loss of our vital forests?
• How can we enhance the development of new forests for future generations?
• What are the most effective ways to decrease deforestation while sustaining forestry for building, medicine, and employment opportunities?

There’s no single right answer, and that’s exactly the point.

In preparation for competition, students will pore over real-world data, identify underlying causes, brainstorm creative solutions, and evaluate their ideas against criteria that balance environmental sustainability with human need.

The process builds skills that go far beyond competition: critical thinking, research literacy, and collaborative problem-solving.

Why Get Involved

Competitors at this year’s world finals earned invitations by being the top problem-solvers in their local programs. Students from around the world will showcase their hard work at the International Conference this June.  

As a student, whether your interests lean toward science, technology, writing, or civic action, FPS programs offer an opportunity to connect your interests to problems that are genuinely, globally significant. In the 2026-2027 competition season, students will examine the topics of: digital dark age, disappearing cultures, influencer marketing, and health security.

For educators, the Forestry topic also naturally aligns with a wide range of curriculum areas, from earth science to economics and civics. You can find curricular resources to use with students at the FPS store. Even if your students are not competing, Future Problem Solving is a great way to build connections between subject areas and connect students to real-world issues that matter to them outside of the classroom.

Want More Information?

Whether you’re a student looking to participate, a teacher seeking to integrate real-world problem-solving into your classroom, or a program coordinator interested in exploring what FPS has to offer, there are tons of great resources available here fpspi.org 

Want to learn how to get involved in Future Problem Solving? Find your local program and get in touch.

Our world needs help from a new generation of problem-solvers. Does that include you?