This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。
Less than a third of people in developing countries own or have any official right to the land they live on. Groups like UN-Habitat and its partners are working on a simple way to secure land rights for millions of people. Development experts say gaining land rights is important for reducing poverty and increasing economic growth and food production.
不到三分之一的发展中国家的人们对自己赖以生存的土地拥有正式权利。联合国人居署及其合作伙伴等组织正在研究一种简单办法，来确保数百万人的土地权利。发展专家表示，获得土地权对降低贫困和提高经济增长及粮食产量非常重要。
Poor people can then use the land as security to get bank loans. Land records can also show foreign investors that the land and the rights of those on it are legally secure. Foreign demand has increased in recent years for agricultural land in Africa, Asia and South America. UN-Habitat official Clarissa Augustinus in Nairobi, Kenya, explains why land records are so important.
这样穷人就可以使用土地作为抵押获得银行贷款。土地记录也可以向国外投资者表明土地及其权利拥有法律保障。近年来，非洲、亚洲和南美洲农业用地的国外需求有所增加。联合国人居署驻肯尼亚首都内罗毕官员克拉丽莎·奥古斯丁（Clarissa Augustinus）解释了土地记录如此重要的原因。
CLARISSA AUGUSTINUS: "When an investor goes to the government and says 'I want a piece of land,' the government looks on their maps which show that that particular piece of land is empty, and they give it to an investor. But when the investor goes there and looks at the land, he sees that it is fully occupied by a tribe or a family or whatever."
奥古斯丁：“当投资者向政府表示，‘我想要一块土地。’政府查看下他们的地图，看哪块地是空置的便把它给投资者。但是，当投资者实地去看时，才发现这块地完全被一个部落或家族之类的占领了。”
Forcing the people off the land can harm the image of the investor.
强制这些人离开这片土地会伤害投资者的形象。
CLARISSA AUGUSTINUS: "It can cause what the European investors are calling reputation risk."
奥古斯丁：“它会导致欧洲投资者所谓的名誉风险。”
Ownership documents like deeds and titles are rare, she says, because establishing property lines and recording land is expensive.
她说，象契约或证书之类的所有权文件非常稀少，因为建立土地分界线并记录土地（所有权）代价昂贵。
CLARISSA AUGUSTINUS: "You could be talking a couple of hundred dollars to create a deed or a title. And most countries cannot afford to give the majority of citizens, at this point in time, ownership rights because of the cost of creating it, and most individuals cannot afford to subsidize it."
奥古斯丁：“你可能谈论的是数百美元建立一个契约或所有权证书。由于建立所有权的代价高昂，现阶段大多数国家无法负担起向广大市民提供所有权，而且大部分个人也承担不起补贴建立所有权的费用。”
UN-Habitat says the answer in some countries is to create a series of steps in gaining land rights -- a so-called property ladder. First, people could receive a simple document or starter title to the land they are on. They would be safe from the threat of being forced off the land by the state or wealthy buyers. Higher steps would provide greater rights. Finally, a majority of a community could decide to allow individual ownership of the land.
联合国人居署表示，一些国家正建立一系列取得土地权的步骤，也就是所谓的阶梯性所有权。首先，人们可能获得一份他们土地的简单文件或初始证书，这样他们就会免遭国家或富有买家驱离土地的威胁。进一步会提供更大权利。最终，多数社会可以决定承认土地的个人所有权。
Namibia, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia are among the countries adopting property ladders. Ms. Augustinus says Ethiopia has already provided twenty million land certificates on the lower end of the property ladder for about one dollar each.
纳米比亚，乌干达，坦桑尼亚和赞比亚位居采纳阶梯性所有权的国家之列。奥古斯丁女士表示，埃塞俄比亚已经以1美元每份的价格，给最底层
的阶梯性所有权发放了2000万份土地证书。
In Southeast Asia, the United States Agency for International Development is working on a project to help Timor-Leste develop property rights. The first step is an official certificate recognizing a landholder's unopposed claim. East Timor separated from Indonesia in nineteen ninety-nine. The Indonesian army had destroyed land records and forced communities from their land to break up resistance.
在东南亚，美国国际开发署正致力于帮助东帝汶制定产权。第一阶段是承认土地所有者自动获得权利的官方文件。东帝汶1999年从印尼独立，印尼军队毁坏了土地记录，迫使公众离开土地以瓦解抵抗。
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