Life in the world’s most polluted town.

A new report from Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) and Environment Africa Zambia uncovers the origins of lead contamination in Kabwe, its impacts on children, and the case for corporate accountability

Kabwe, in Zambia, is the world’s most polluted town, following more than a century of mining, mostly by Anglo American. The town and its surrounding townships have extremely high levels of lead in the soil and air, and studies consistently show that 95% of children have elevated blood levels at the level at which cognitive damage and behavioural impacts occur, with many at over ten times this level.

This has led to a class-action being filed in South Africa by 140,000 women and children, which had an appeal hearing in early November. Alongside the latest medical evidence and the historic and colonial context of this contamination, four mothers share their stories of how lead affects them and their children in this new report by Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) and Environment Africa Zambia.

Kabwe serves as an example of the long-lasting environmental damage and human harms caused by a lack of laws to ensure corporate accountability. What happens next will help shape corporate accountability in the future.

This report was launched to the public at LSE on 27^th October – you can watch this here.

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Life in the world's most polluted town: the origins of lead contamination in Kabwe, its impacts on children, and the case for corporate accountability

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