In order to obtain the best social and environmental results from mining activities, different solutions, which involve a variety of perspectives, have been proposed. These include the worldwide perspective based in the economy globalization paradigms; the regional perspective, focused in the integration of countries; the national perspective which emphasizes the natural assets and development options, and finally a local perspective is incorporated to account for the participation of directly affected communities.Within this framework, the mining industry is requested to develop both technological and managerial tools appropriate to evaluate, optimize and communicate the social and environmental performance and output of its related activities, mainly in the developing countries. On the other hand, the governments have been committed to implement regulatory actions, of command and control type, based on an environmental legislation in line with the above mentioned perspectives and also to use economical instruments as a mean to accomplish environmental objectives. In Colombia the direct regulation methods have been traditionally used to prevent the environmental deterioration produced by mining activities. However, since the 1991 Political Constitution and the Law 99 of 1993, the communities’ participation and economical instruments were incorporated. A historic summary of the environmental legislation in our country from the early 70’s up to now, showing its implications in mining is presented. Then a favorable tendency is indicated in the environmental improvement of the national extractive industry, accomplished as a result of the implementation of new strategies to minimize the impact of mining on the environment and to improve the well-being of local communities.