VOA慢速英语:'Property Ladder' Helps Poor Gain Land Rights

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民对自己赖以生存的土地拥有任何正式权利。联合国人居署及其合作伙伴团体正在研究一种简单办法，来确保数百万人对于土地的权利。发展专家称，为了减少贫困，促进经济增长以及粮食产量，取得土地权利是非常重要的。

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.
穷人可以利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，国外对非洲、亚洲和南美洲农业用地的需求有所增加。在肯尼亚首都内罗毕，联合国人居署官员Clarissa Augustinus解释了为什么土地记录如此重要。

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."
CLARISSA AUGUSTINUS：“当一名投资者走进政府部门说，‘我想要一块土地。’政府就会查看他们的地图，看哪块特定的土地是空置的，便把它交给投资者。但是，当投资者去到那里查看土地时，他会发现这块地完全被一个部落或家族等群体占领了。”

Forcing the people off the land can harm the image of the investor.
强迫这些人离开这片土地可能会损害投资者的形象。

CLARISSA AUGUSTINUS: "It can cause what the European investors are calling reputation risk."
CLARISSA AUGUSTINUS：“它会导致欧洲投资者所谓的声誉风险。”

Ownership documents like deeds and titles are rare, she says, because establishing property lines and recording land is expensive.
像契约或证书之类的所有权文件非常罕有，她说，因为建立土地分界线和记录是非常昂贵。

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."
CLARISSA AUGUSTINUS：“你可能会说，花几百美元就可以建立一个契约或证书。由于建立所有权的代价很高，而在这个时点，大多数国家无法负担向广大人民提供所有权，而且大多数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.
联合国人居署称，一些国家的解决方法是，建立一系列取得土地权的步骤，也就是所谓的财产阶梯。首先，人们可以得到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，大多数社区可以决定承认个人的土地所有权。。

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，坦桑尼亚和赞比亚就是部分采用阶梯财产方式的国家。Augustinus女士称，埃塞俄比亚已经以大约1美元每份的价格，给最底层放了2000万份阶梯财产土地证书。

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一个用于帮助东帝汶制定产权的项目。第一步是承认土地所有者自动获得索赔权利的官方证书。东帝汶1999年从印尼独立，印度尼西亚的军队摧毁了土地记录，迫使民众离开他们自己土地以突破抵抗。