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James Workman: Mandela’s Global Water Ambassador Dies — A Reflection on South African Human Rights Lawyer, Kader Asmal

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When Nelson Mandela named South Africa’s first democratic Minister for Water Affairs and Forestry – a futile effort to keep his outspoken, irascible, chain-smoking friend out of trouble – Kader Asmal claimed ignorance about the rudimentary basics of his new portfolio.

Q&A: James G. Workman on the Bushmen’s Fight for Water Rights and 21st Century Hydro-Democracy

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Workman says chances of the Botswanian government returning water rights to the Bushmen as 'pretty slim.'

Heart of Dryness: Reversing the Politics of Water Scarcity from the Kalahari to Suburbia

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The final installment of our seven-part series of excerpts from James G. Workman's Heart of Dryness examines how we define water rights for the Bushmen in Botswana as well as suburbanites in the U.S.

Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought

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"...for every Bushman caught, accused, arrested and roughed up, several others sneaked in to gather or hunt, preferring to live freely without official help, without water that had strings attached."

Heart of Dryness: Botswana’s Bushmen Fight for Human, Water Rights

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The fifth installment of Workman's book details the Bushmen's painful legal battle for water access against the Botswana government, which had begun to use "intentional, compulsory thirst" on the indigenous community. Left little choice, the Bushmen pursued court action to make access to water a fundamental human right.

Water Demand-Supply Gap Rising At Alarming Rate, Report Shows

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Global water demand will grow at an accelerated rate -- from 4,500 billion meters cubed to 6,900 billion cubed -- by 2030 increasing the water gap.

Heart of Dryness: Water, Climate, and Energy

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The second installment Climate Change Coping Strategies of excerpts from James G. Workman's Heart of Dryness

Heart of Dryness: Climate Change Coping Strategies

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Since the dawn of Homo sapiens in arid Africa, nine tenths of our evolution has unfolded as foragers. Only relatively recently did our species embark on agriculture, and recent events suggest certain limits to that extraordinary experiment. Exponential population growth has combined with unprecedented climate change until half the planet’s land surface can now be classified as drylands—arid landscapes inhabited by a third of humankind.

Video: James G. Workman Discusses the Water and Climate Issues that Haunt Botswana’s Bushmen

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The video above and corresponding transcript below are a Q&A author James G. Workman did with the book's publishers, Walker & Company.