[ti:South Sudan Plan to Re-Start Waterway Project Faces Resistance] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]The people of South Sudan are debating [00:03.44]whether to restart a project first considered over 100 years ago [00:09.68]to change the way water moves through the country. [00:14.96]The Jonglei Canal project was first studied in 1904. [00:22.04]It would move water from the Sudd wetlands in South Sudan [00:28.12]and send it down the Nile River to Sudan and Egypt. [00:34.40]The project started in the 1950s. [00:38.36]Work went on for 30 years, but it was never finished. [00:43.16]By then about 270 of a total 340 kilometers had been dug. [00:53.32]John Akec is a leader at the University of Juba. [00:58.20]He started a campaign called "Save the Sudd" [01:02.48]because he believes the canal [01:05.12]will cause a serious problem for South Sudan. [01:09.92]If the wetlands dry, he said, [01:13.12]"all the livelihoods" connected to that area will be lost. [01:18.68]He started collecting signatures on a document called a petition [01:24.12]that he will send to the nation's president. [01:28.32]It calls for an end to the canal plan. [01:32.40]If he gets 100,000 signatures, he will send it in. [01:37.76]So far he has many thousands. [01:41.56]"Water is more valuable than oil, diamonds, gold," he said. [01:48.88]While some, like Akec, say the project would hurt the wetlands, [01:54.00]others say the flooding is causing a greater problem. [02:00.04]Earlier this year, one of South Sudan's vice presidents – Taban Deng Gai [02:07.48]– called to restart the canal project because of increased flooding. [02:13.88]People who live in Jonglei and Unity states say [02:19.16]they have not been able to raise animals and maintain their farmland. [02:26.28]Martha Achol is a farmer and mother of six. [02:31.00]She said, "there is water everywhere" [02:34.44]and the floods "have destroyed our farms." [02:38.64]She said she never used to worry about food, but she does now. [02:45.60]Mayak Deng is another farmer. He said the same thing. [02:50.80]"Today, we don't have enough," he said. [02:56.20]Manawa Peter Gatkuoth is South Sudan's water minister. [03:01.92]He added that the canal would permit more visitors [03:06.40]and new transport opportunities in the area. [03:10.32]But environmentalists like Deng Majok Chol [03:14.84]worry that the project will hurt the ecosystem of the wetlands. [03:19.60]Majok Chol, who is working on an advanced environmental degree [03:24.96]at Oxford University, said the current flooding is only a small change [03:31.68]within the long history of the area. [03:35.16]He fears that removing water from the wetlands [03:39.32]will reduce the amount of rainfall and affect people in South Sudan [03:44.56]as well as people downstream in Sudan and Egypt. [03:49.48]Nhial Tiitmamer is the director of an environmental program [03:54.92]at the Sudd Institute. [03:57.00]Tiitmamer said the wetlands are worth $1 billion to South Sudan each year. [04:04.56]"This will be lost if the wetlands are drained," he said. [04:09.36]I'm Dan Friedell. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM