dc.description.abstract | This study explores the linkages between property rights and the conservation and wise
use of wetlands in Kenya. The aim is to demonstrate that existing property rights regimes
and rules for their regulation do not engender conservation and sustainable utilization of
wetlands. The study argues that even at the international level, laws developed for
wetlands management, although urging for conservation and wise use, do not appreciate
andaddress the property and conservation nexus.
Wetlands are one of the most important yet threatened ecosystems in the world currently.
Despite progress from the early positions when they were viewed as useless, mosquito
infested and breeding grounds, whose utility could only arise from their conversion to
more productive uses like agriculture to current appreciation that wetlands have unique
attributes and perform varied important services to the ecosystem and are source of
unique goods, they continue to be degraded and lost at alarming rates.
The problem that the study responds to is how property rights can be regulated to ensure
conservation and wise use of wetlands in Kenya. This is done against the background that
despite the existence of an international legal framework, The Ramsar Convention on
Wetlands of International Importance especially as regards Waterfowl Habitat, coupled
by an array of laws and policies at the national level, wetlands destruction in Kenya
continues unabated. The study argues that land owners will only comply with
conservation imperatives, in the case of wetlands, if either compelled by law or given
appropriate incentives. The critical question, therefore, is what the appropriate linkage
should be, in the Kenyan context, between property rights protection and wise and
sustainable use of wetlands. What juridical tools and frameworks can be applied to
regulate property rights in land so as to guarantee the conservation and wise use of
wetlands in Kenya while protecting rights of holders of the property?
The thesis was largely based on library research, relying on books, articles and journals................. | en_US |