Abstract
In Ethiopia, like in other developing countries, land disputes are critical problems both in peri-urban and rural areas. Handling such disputes requires scientific and evidence-based interventions. This study analyzes the nature, types, and causes of land tenure disputes and the resolution mechanisms thereof in peri-urban and nearby rural kebeles of Debre Markos town. Interviews for the investigation were conducted with sample landholders and concerned legal experts in Debre Markos town’s peri-urban area and Gozamin Wereda of Amhara National Regional State in Ethiopia. Compared to rural areas, the incidence of land tenure disputes is high in peri-urban areas. The land tenure disputes identified in the study areas are boundary trespassing disputes, landholding disputes, land rental disagreements, divorce-related land disputes, bequeath disputes, parcel exchange disputes, and land use-related disputes. The land tenure disputes are resolved mainly by formal means such as court litigations and administrative decisions, or by informal means known as alternative dispute resolution mechanisms (ADRMs). In both study areas, negotiation, mediation/conciliation, and arbitration are the most frequently employed ADRMs. In particular, mediation plays a significant role in resolving symmetrical land tenure disputes both in peri-urban and rural areas.
Highlights
Even if horizontal urban expansion is the major cause of peri-urban land disputes [38], the problem is exacerbated in situations where there is a lack of sound spatial planning and where
Even if horizontal urban expansion is the major cause of peri-urban land disputes [38], the problem is exacerbated in situations where there is a lack of sound spatial planning and where there are institutional problems, inadequate compensation payments, and the absence of effective land tenure security for all landholders [6,49,65]
This paper addressed the extent of land tenure disputes and the most commonly used land tenure dispute resolution mechanisms based on investigations in peri-urban areas and in nearby rural areas of Debre Markos town in Ethiopia
Summary
As defined by sociologists, is a social fact, which involves at least two parties with differences either in interests or in social position [1,2]. Disputes can arise either from actual or perceived competition of interests for resources such as land [3] and can be symmetric or asymmetric according to the power balances between the conflicting parties. Symmetric conflicts are conflicts between relatively similar parties with respect to power, whereas asymmetric conflicts are conflicts between dissimilar parties [4]. Land dispute can be defined as a social fact involving at least two parties in an actual or perceived competition of interests over the property rights to land [5,6,7]. A land dispute can be understood as misuse, restriction, or dispute over property rights to land [10,11]
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