Abstract
Kenya continues to face a challenge of declining quality of land, in a situation where agriculture is a major contributor to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and to rural livelihoods. Land is a complex resource composed primarily of soil, water and biodiversity. Thus the management of such a complex resource sustainably is a challenge for a country like Kenya. International law and policy is useful in providing principles on land stewardship, which can be adapted nationally, through law, policy or development plans. These include international approaches include the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in 2015, and the Rioβ+β20 Outcome document. These provide normative support for national law and policy tools, to provide solutions that govern prevention and reversal of land degradation. Importantly, the purpose of land tenure rights is critical, as they provide a direct entitlement to land owners to make choices on how they utilize land. As such these can be enhanced with sustainability obligations, and can complement the role played by land use legal provisions, such as agriculture laws. This paper makes the argument that tenure rights can provide a supplemental incentive for the legal system to require stewardship practices by land owners.
The author has utilized, with modifications, arguments on tenure rights, and stewardship, earlier developed for this Doctoral Thesis in Law at the University of Ottawa. The thesis can be retrieved at: https://www.ruor.uottawa.ca/handle/10393/20268.
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Notes
- 1.
UNCCD (2014), p. 4.
- 2.
Kenya (2015), p. xi.
- 3.
Kenya (2015), p. xi.
- 4.
Section 2, Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority Act, No. 13 of 2012.
- 5.
Kenya (2015), p. xi.
- 6.
Kenya (2015), p. xi.
- 7.
Kenya (2015), p. xi.
- 8.
Kenya (2015), p. 1.
- 9.
Kenya (2004), p. 17.
- 10.
Kenya (2004), pp. 1β2.
- 11.
Kenya (2004), pp. 15β17.
- 12.
Kenya (2011).
- 13.
Kenya (2011), p. 5.
- 14.
Kenya (2011), p. 5.
- 15.
Kenya (2004), p. 10.
- 16.
Kenya (2004), p. 10.
- 17.
Kenya (2010a), p. 65.
- 18.
UNCCD (2014), p. 4.
- 19.
UNCCD (2014), p. 4.
- 20.
UNCCD (2012), p. 8.
- 21.
UNGA (2015), para 15.3.
- 22.
African Union, NEPAD, undated.
- 23.
Kenya (2010b).
- 24.
Kenya (2012).
- 25.
Kenya (2012), p. 23.
- 26.
Constitution of Kenya (2010), Article 60(1).
- 27.
Constitution of Kenya (2010), Article 61.
- 28.
Constitution of Kenya (2010), Article 60(1) [b, c & e].
- 29.
Constitution of Kenya (2010), Article 10.
- 30.
Constitution of Kenya, Article 10.
- 31.
UNGA (2012).
- 32.
UNGA (2012), para 205.
- 33.
Meinzen-Dick et al. (1997), p. 1303.
- 34.
Kameri-Mbote (2005), p. 6.
- 35.
Lastarria-Cornhiel (1997), p. 1318.
- 36.
Secretary of State for the Colonies (1955), at p. 323, para 77.
- 37.
Secretary of State for the Colonies (1955), at p. 323, para 77.
- 38.
Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (1955).
- 39.
Colony and Protectorate of Kenya (1955), p. 9.
- 40.
Bruce and Migot-Adholla (1993), p. 3.
- 41.
Bruce and Migot-Adholla (1993), p. 3.
- 42.
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2002), p. 18.
- 43.
Scott (2008), p. 5.
- 44.
Bruce and Migot-Adholla (1993), pp. 9β10. There are also Transfer rights: right to sell or mortgage the land, to convey the land to others through intra-community reallocations, to transmit the land to heirs through inheritance, and to reallocate use and control rights.
- 45.
Cap 281 Laws of Kenya, (now repealed).
- 46.
Cap 300 Laws of Kenya, (now repealed).
- 47.
Kenya (2009), p. 18.
- 48.
Kenya (2004), pp. 15β17.
- 49.
Attwood (1990), pp. 668β669.
- 50.
FAO (2012), p. 6.
- 51.
FAO (2012), p. 24.
- 52.
Constitution of Kenya (2010), Article 66.
- 53.
Environmental Management and Coordination Act, Act No. 8 of 1999, as amended in 2015.
- 54.
The Climate Change Act 2016 was assented into law by the President of Kenya on 6 May 2016.
- 55.
Physical Planning Act, Cap 286 Laws of Kenya.
- 56.
Cap 318 Laws of Kenya, (now repealed).
- 57.
Shaxson (1993), p. 105.
- 58.
Roose (1996), p. 24.
- 59.
Roose (1996), p. 24.
- 60.
Shaxson et al. (1997), p. 6.
- 61.
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority Act (AFFA), s 2(e).
- 62.
FAO (2002), First Part, p. 20.
- 63.
FAO (2002), First Part, p. 22.
- 64.
FAO (2002), First Part, p. 22.
- 65.
FAO (2002), First Part, p. 22.
- 66.
Section 3.
- 67.
Rule 3.
- 68.
Rule 5(1).
- 69.
Rule 5.
- 70.
Rule 5.
- 71.
Section 25(3).
- 72.
Rules 5.
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Kibugi, R. (2017). Evaluating the Role of Private Land Tenure Rights in Sustainable Land Management for Agriculture in Kenya. In: Ginzky, H., Heuser, I., Qin, T., Ruppel, O., Wegerdt, P. (eds) International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy 2016. International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy, vol 2016. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42508-5_16
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