Abstract:
(Property rights if rightly secured, play a greater role in economic development. This paper analyzes the relationship between property rights, investment and resource exploitation. The relationship between land property rights (where the people have the security of tenure) and natural resource exploitation has been proven by economic theory and literature. Sadly, rather than being concerned more with the use rights, the analytical studies have so far focused on the security of tenure, and transfer rights with the argument that, use rights are often implied by transfer rights. Yet property rights can be a critical obstacle to the economic development of any country because it may limit people to invest if others can easily seize the fruits of their investments. Therefore, the absence of formal property rights may constitute a severe limitation for the rural poor to invest and impedes land use. The study finds that attention to property rights has the potential of improving natural resource outcomes, management policies, and projects in terms of efficiency, equity, sustainability, and empowering resource users. The risk of expropriation is limited through secure land rights thereby improving the efficiency of resources and fostering investment, Possession of land titles can encourage and improve the transferability of land holdings, thus increasing investment, and it can improve resource allocation efficiency and facilitating market exchange. Secure land rights reduce the risk of alienation and expropriation of property which may translate into higher productivity and earnings and can improve the collateralization of assets in credit markets.)
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