Land tenure regimes and the dynamics of land use practices in Bukonzo county, Uganda.

The aim of this study was to assess the influence of land tenure regimes on the dynamics of land use practices, conflicts and resource degradation in Bukonzo County Kasese Uganda. The objectives of the study were to; analyse the characteristics of modes of land acquisition from pre-colonial period to 2014, establish the relationship between the users and attendant uses in the specific land tenure regimes, investigate the manner in which land users and uses relate to conflicts and resource degradation and to evaluate the adequacy of the existing land policies in the republic of Uganda. To accomplish the study, research was conducted in four sub counties namely; Nyakiyumbu, Munkunyu, Ihandiro and Kisinga. The study was guided by the evolutionary theory of land rights in Sub Saharan Africa coupled with the theory of political ecology in the context of power relations in land management. The study took a case study design. A total of 378 respondents were selected as a sample to represent the entire population. Sample selection was guided by Morgan’s table for determining sample size from a given population. Data collection techniques used included a questionnaire, focus group discussions, field observations and Remote sensing and GIS techniques. The target groups included household heads in the study area, local council leaders, members of land board committees, legal officers, conservationists and opinion leaders. Techniques such as SPSS and GIS were used to analyse data while tables, graphs, charts, maps, terrestrial photographs and boxes were used to present the findings. The results of this study show that socio-demographic factors such as household size, level of income, level of education, marital status, employment and occupation have influenced the amount of land owned, land use change, conflict management and resource utilization. It argues that power and wealth relations underlie processes of land grabbing, a scenario creating classes of the ‘haves and have nots’ in land ownership. Uneven access to land affects poor small holder farmers, whose small plots are over fragmented. This strains the resources through human-survival struggles causing degradation. When large expanses of free land were gazetted into National Parks, the local people in Bukonzo were sandwiched in a narrow corridor of survival. These poor small holder farmers have degraded their area not out of ignorance, choice or want but because they have no alternative. The power and forces behind the alienation of land for parks are foreign and beyond the understanding of these small holder farmers who entirely survive on land. It was found out that in the pre-colonial times, man harnessed nature and land grabbing became apparent in the colonial and post colonial times. The study concludes that pre-colonial regimes preserved nature, colonial regimes grabbed land while the postcolonial regimes mismanaged the natural resources. In this regard, it is deemed important and urgent for policy makers to provide guidelines for ensuring security of land ownership, sustainability of the land uses and integrity of the environment.