Land Administration: Concepts & Issues

The land is a term that is diversified in meaning and significance. To some people, the land is to be cherished as a landscape that has evolved as a result of geomorphological and geological processes. Yet to others, this landscape is important for the fortunes it stores, i.e. vital resources that must be exploited in order to achieve economic growth and development. To other groups of people, the land is a legal entity or a space in which bundles of rights are defined so as to govern human behavior in relation to it. In general, the land is ¿the surface of the earth, the soils, and the rocks beneath it, the air above and all things fixed to the soil¿ and hence ¿as a source of all material wealth¿ at the disposal of humankind.