Towards an Analytical Framework for Assessing Property Rights to Water Sources in Farming Areas of Zimbabwe: A Theoretical Perspective

Abstract

"Property right issues in developing countries such as Zimbabwe have received a lot of attention as scholars, among them economists and sociologists, have increasingly recognized the importance of property rights on natural resource management and sustainability. This has resulted in widespread agreement on the importance of property rights to common pool resources like water. However, this has also resulted in varied perceptions and descriptions of property rights. This has led to some confusion with regards to structures of incentives associated with various property ownership regimes and how they (property regimes) have changed over time. For example, some researchers argue that natural resources ideal type property rights (namely open access, common property, state and private property) are too simple to fit the complexities of the many types of rights found in reality. In reality common pool resources such as water are rarely managed within one property regime. One can also argue that the historical confusion over common property and open access was largely caused by the failure of some researchers to characterize levels of exclusiveness between the two.

"There is lack of a flexible framework that can be used to effectively explain most of the property rights arrangements found in real situations and how tenure has evolved in response to changes in various factors. The paper presents and discusses a framework that can be used to identify and analyze fundamental attributes that influence access to water by smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe. Water rights in farming areas of Zimbabwe are influenced by some of the following characteristics; social/cultural values, commercialization, exclusiveness, use designation, duration, allotment type, alienation and security."