Building resilience in the face of nexus threats: local knowledge and social practices of Brazilian youth

ended

The complex interactions of the food-water-energy nexus have become prominent in academic and policy discourse addressing issues of resource security, equitable access, and resource interdependencies. The nexus has gained particular importance in terms of vulnerability to natural hazards since these can negatively affect the long-term availability of resources and pose a major risk to resource security. Building long-term resilience to resource insecurity requires interconnected solutions that also take account of particularly vulnerable groups such as youth. NEXUS-DRR offers a novel and interconnected approach by linking nexus thinking with disaster risk reduction. This MSCGF investigates threats to the food-water-energy nexus from the perspective of local knowledge and social practices of Brazilian youth in marginalized communities that are affected by environmental hazards such as floods and landslides. Using participatory research methods such as citizen science, it explores young people’s everyday lived experiences and practices related to the nexus. It investigates their understanding of the nexus, their access to and their use of resources as well as their knowledge of the causes of nexus threats and future scenarios. Moreover, it explores the social practices that young people have adopted to reduce their vulnerability in terms of resource insecurity, and investigates how youth knowledge and their social practices can be valued for the development of public policies. Through joint supervision, mentoring, career and interdisciplinary skills development at the beneficiary, the University of Birmingham (UK), and the host university, the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), this MSCGF significantly strengthens the Fellow’s profile and career opportunities as an internationally recognised researcher of excellence in applied nexus, resilience, and environmental youth research.