8Peri-urban land rights in the era of urbanisation in Ethiopia: A property rights approach

Abstract

All land in Ethiopia is owned by the state and granted to the people with holding right, and the land-holding arrangement is dichotomised into rural and urban systems. In-between urban and rural spaces, there is a transitional peri-urban agricultural area on which growing urbanisation has been exerting unprecedented pressure. Thus, this study mainly aims to examine and highlight the challenges and pressures imposed on the land rights of local peri-urban landholders, as a result of the growing demand for land due to urbanisation. To achieve the purpose of the study, both the desk review research approach and an analysis of previous survey research results are employed. Existing contemporary literature and theories on property rights, and current laws and policies focusing on land rights in Ethiopia are reviewed in detail. Finally, evidence shows that the new recipients of land from periurban areas, through the urban land lease system, are provided and can enjoy better and thicker bundles of land rights than the indigenous, local, peri-urban landholders in the process of urban development.

Keywords: Ethiopia; landholder; leaseholder; peri-urban; property rights; urbanisation