Preparing for the winter storms, a bulldozer piles up a protective bank on the north shore. The coastline has become increasingly vulnerable to erosion as the sea ice retreats. More open water allows waves to build up in the fierce Arctic winds. Point Hope lies south of lease site 193 where oil giant Shell plan to drill in 2012. There is scarcely any other place on earth that present conditions more severe and inclement than the Arctic. Will Rose and Kajsa Sjšlander/70° North

Preparing for the winter storms, a bulldozer piles up a protective bank on the north shore. The coastline has become increasingly vulnerable to erosion as the sea ice retreats. More open water allows waves to build up in the fierce Arctic winds. Point Hope lies south of lease site 193 where oil giant Shell plan to drill in 2012. There is scarcely any other place on earth that present conditions more severe and inclement than the Arctic. Will Rose and Kajsa Sjšlander/70° North Royal Dutch Shell has been granted preliminary permits to drill off Alaska’s Arctic coast in 2012. The decision could pave the way for the drilling of huge reserves, but plans have been put on hold by legal challenges from the tribal government of Point Hope and a group of 12 environmental organisations. The fear of an oil spill has split the community, which must decide between economic benefits and protecting the marine environment on which it has depended for thousands of years.

Oil drilling and the Inupiat people of Point Hope – in pictures