Understanding Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions about the Energy-Water-Food Nexus in Education for Sustainability: A Brazilian Perspective

The water-energy-food nexus approach to the sustainable management of resources emphasises chains of interdependence and contingencies of their elements. As these concepts are increasingly relevant for research and policy, educational institutions seek to add materials about them into curricula. This paper aims to identify issues and relevant points for education for sustainability in undergraduate higher education, based on a combined analysis of research results regarding the perceptions, experiences, and participation of undergraduates in the water-energy-food nexus in São Paulo, Brazil. The analyses enabled an exploration of the contexts in which education for sustainability is set at higher education institutions by taking into account the perceptions of students. It was observed that university students perceive that their knowledge of issues and topics related to the nexus elements is either limited or sufficient, without remarkable distinctions between responses for public and private institutions, although public ones are viewed as superior in educational level terms.