Assessing the Impact of land tenure security on sustainable land use in informal settlements

Abstract

This survey research project thesis is about assessing the impact of land tenure security on sustainable land use in the selected informal settlements in Nakawa Division/Municipality. There is an impact on sustainable use of land caused by the way in which community’s property rights vests in people are practiced through a land tenure system. Using the three selected informal settlements in Nakawa division, Kampala, Uganda, as study areas, the research investigated whether improving land tenure security would lead to sustainable land use in informal settlements. The findings discussed in this report demonstrate that with the existing insecure tenure, the informal settlement dwellers lack incentives(resources) to start any meaningful sustainable land use thereby accelerating the multiplication/springing up of spontaneous land uses such as building of temporary structures and informal sector activities. This has made informal settlement dwellers to have no guarantee of their ownership of the land they are occupying to the extent of anticipating that any time the rightful proprietor would claim the land. Even though the study focuses (concentrates) on provision of secure tenure to the urban poor as well as sustainable use of land, it has also explicitly talked about the responsibilities of individuals on informal settlement land towards sustainable use of land.