Property rights can be divided into four categories: (i) private property, (ii) common property, (iii) open-access resources and (iv) state or public property (FAO 1995, Matosse and Wily 1996).
Although, in Mozambique all land is owned by the State which can grant title for occupation and use, but not ownership, to individuals and judicial entities, the new land law approved in July 1997 recognizes the existing customary rights of rural communities and its role in conservation of natural resources.
In rural areas, local communities live on a complex system of tenure and access. Thus, although the access to the resource may be classified as open, the pattern of land -use is established on a clan system in which rights of cultivation and other agricultural land-use practices are vested in the chief or regulo. Although, there are different clans in the same tribe and the customs vary from one clan to another (Junod 1974), rights of use are granted and controlled by this regulo as custodian of the people's cultural heritage and land. This form of resource-holding in the past was greatly respected. But, currently there are some frictions between regulados. The authority of the chief was diluted by centralized government and due to civil unrest that disrupted the socio-economy of the country from 1975-1992. The area under jurisdiction of a regulo is called a "regulado". Boundaries between regulados are defined and agreed upon by the regulos.
