Property Rights and Natural Resources

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the connection between property rights and natural resources. Most national jurisdictions are based on a model of ‘State property’, whereby ownership and control of natural resources are vested in the ultimate authority of the State. This chapter analyses how the right to property supports the recognition of property rights over natural resources for certain category of citizens, notably indigenous peoples, landless peasants, and rural women. Based on this analysis, the chapter then explores how human rights law is gradually supporting the recognition of some forms of community property rights, notably for local forest communities and small-scale fishing communities. It also explores some of the underlying tensions between the concessionary rights of corporations and investors over natural resources and the rights of local communities.