People around the world can vote in an exciting global video competition that is helping children and young people play their part in helping to secure future supplies of food, water and energy in Brazil.
Research experts at the University of Birmingham called on young talents to submit short videos capturing the theme ‘Food, water and energy in my everyday life’. They received entries from Brazil, Singapore, India and the UK and have short-listed 10 videos to be judged by the public vote.
Online voting has now opened and the short-listed three-minute videos can now be viewed online with the winner and runner-up based on the highest number of 'likes'. The 10 videos can be viewed at http://www.foodwaterenergynexus.com/Competition.php. Voting closes at noon (BST) on 24 April 2017.
The 'Food-Water-Energy Challenge ’links Brazil to the rest of the world and is open to anyone aged 10 to 25 at any school, college, university or youth organisation in any country.
It is part of (Re)Connect the Nexus - a two-year research partnership with Brazilian experts from Sao Paulo State University (UNESP). The project also involves experts from the UK Universities of Northampton and Leicester
Professor Peter Kraftl, from the University of Birmingham, said: “We’re delighted with the response to the competition and received some great videos. We hope that people in Brazil, the UK and around the world will go online, watch the young people’s work and vote for their favourite.
“The competition has inspired children and young people to produce great videos that we believe will spark debate around Nexus issues – not just in Brazil and the UK. We want to see children and young people around the globe coming together to help solve the problems facing Brazil.
“Young people make up 42% of Brazil’s population and they have a crucial role to play in securing food, water and energy – we want to connect young Brazilians with the world.”
Competition winners will be announced shortly after online voting closes. They will receive prizes for both themselves and their school, college, university or youth organisation.
Water, energy and food are fundamental to maintaining our society in a sustainable way.There is a complex interdependence between sectors producing these resources and all are subject to similar demographic, economic and climatic pressures.
This is known as the ‘water-energy-food nexus’ and examples include:
- the amount of energy required to pump water supply systems;
- water demand for hydroelectric power generation or thermoelectric cooling; and
- conflict between the use of land for crops aimed at food production and biofuels.
Professor José Antonio Perrella Balestieri, from Faculdade de Engenharia Guaratinguetá at UNESP, said: ““In Brazil, children and young people aged 10 to 25 years are very important for accessing resources, economic productivity, social cohesion and community life, but little research exists on how they affect the water-energy-food nexus.
“If we are to ‘solve’ the nexus, we must first understand young people’s perception and experience of water resources, energy and food. We will survey some 5,000 young people in Brazil - the largest survey of its type - investigating their experiences and addressing crucial issues.”
The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions, its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers and teachers and more than 5,000 international students from over 150 countries.
(Re)Connect the Nexus will address three sets of scientific issues with great academic and social impact:
- What are the understandings, experiences and participation of Brazilian children and young people (between 10 and 25 years) in the water-energy-food nexus? What are the main priorities for young people, their families and communities?
- What daily choices do young people make when choosing and using food, water or energy in their homes and in public areas?
- How does Education for Sustainability specifically address the water-energy-food nexus? How does it support young people themselves in their understandings, experiences and participation in terms of food-water-energy?
Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and FAPESP as part of the Newton Fund, the ‘Nexus’ projectwill use innovative research techniques to engage with young Brazilians aged up to 24 to learn about their experiences of food, water and energy.
Issues include equal access to the nexus, the resilience to pressures on resources and the role of education in addressing the needs and aspirations of the various communities.
The Project study area is the metropolitan region of the Paraíba Valley and North Coast, State of Sao Paulo. Researchers chose this so that they could evaluate issues and relate them to different factors such as where young people live - urban, suburban or rural – as well as age, gender, class and ethnicity.