The social welfare of the people of the Copperbelt and Kabwe has generally been bounded to the economic performance of the mining industry. As the economic performance of the mining industry declined from the 1970s to the 1990s, so too did the general social welfare of the population. Since many of the public services were provided by the mining companies, either directly or indirectly, the social and public amenities in mining towns also deteriorated. Consequently, local population were typically ill-equipped to deal with the consequences of the environmental degradation brought by decades of mining activities. This is as a result of the poor performance of the mining sector at that time coupled with limited environmental regulation resulted in general poor environmental management in the mining sector.

With the privatization of the mining sector, the increase in retrenchments resulted in many miners losing jobs and a loss of income. Not surprisingly, environmental concerns took a back seat to the business of short-term survival. Many turned to informal economic activities and subsistence agriculture, involving environmentally unfriendly practices such as extensive charcoal burning or subsistence farming. Furthermore, socially destructive activities such as scavenging and vandalism became more prevalent, threatening the sustainability of any environmental remediation measures to be implemented. This was exuberated by the seizure of security patrols of the mine sites outside the New Mine Licence areas. Uncontrolled access to potentially dangerous sites such as waste dumps and open pits and cave-ins poses a challenge as risk of accidents, and exposure to heavy metals has increased.

Socio-Economic Mitigation Measures
Because of the recent influx of new mining investors, the outlook for the Copperbelt mining industry looks brighter than it has for many years. However, the socio-economic legacy of the decades of economic underperformance in the mining industry has yet to be adequately dealt with. Addressing the socio-economic situation is the single most important challenge in the campaign for a better environment in historical mining areas.

Therefore any mitigation efforts must prioritise the goal of creating alternative economic opportunities for the local population.

Suggested strategies for mitigating the socio-economic impact include the following:

	Thorough consultation with all the relevant stakeholders including local communities, local governments, central governments and new mining operators;
	Encouragement of environmentally sustainable economic opportunities through a carefully designed regime of policies and incentives;
	Addressing prevailing health issues such as malaria and HIV/AIDS;
	A concerted and sustained campaign to sensitise populations to environmental and health hazards;
	Development of sustainable livelihoods, e.g., sustainable agricultural activities;
	Resettlement of affected populations —the issues surrounding possible resettlements have been the subject of extensive study: see the linked documents on the Resettlement Action Programmes (RAPs) and the Resettlement Framework
	Formalisation of land and home ownership;
	Monitoring of Public Health;
	Monitoring of Environmental Quality.