ABSTRACT
The oil and gas industry is expanding its activities in the Arctic. Corporate activity in the region has the potential to affect Arctic societies both positively and negatively. According to the Arctic Human Development Report (2004: 10), Arctic societies today face an:
unprecedented combination of rapid and stressful changes involving environmental processes (e.g. the impacts of climate change), cultural developments (e.g. the erosion of indigenous languages), economic changes (e.g. the emergence of narrowly based mixed economies), industrial developments (e.g. the growing role of multinational corporations engaged in the extraction of natural resources), and political changes (e.g. the devolution of political authority).1
