CRITICAL REVIEW OF COMMON PROPERTY RIGHT REGIME IN THE MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN TANZANIA

Abstract

This article provides discussion on common property rights in Tanzania. It surveys the laws that provide for regulation of property rights in Tanzania. The article notes that common property right exists in land and natural resource sectors namely; forest, water, wildlife, agriculture, fisheries, pastoral and mining. Laws and policies under these sectors provide for the realization of common rights by respective communities. The rights range from access, occupational, user to transfer. Property right, are important
in the management of common natural resources. While individual property right vests property in the individual, common property right vests right in the collective entity of the community / group. Property rights are protected by either formal, informal or a cross-breeding of formal and informal institutions. Effective protection of common natural resources requires a property regime that involves all members of the community who benefits or are affected by the depletion of the resource. Such involvement requires deliberate identification of the resource, definition of property rights involved and grant of appropriate protection to such rights. While government authorities at their different levels, remain the regulators of the manner communities’ exercise their common property rights; they must however, avoid too much control on community enjoyment of such rights.