1. Does Government Support to Upstream Oil & Gas Activities Benefit Arctic Communities? Stewart Wheeler, Canada’s Ambassador to Iceland Mary Simon, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), Canada Mikael Anzén, Sustainable Development Working Group of the Arctic Council Pauline Gerrard, Hudson Bay Inland Sea Initiative, IISD, Canada Mikhail Babenko, PhD, WWF Global Arctic Programme, Russia Hjalti Jóhannesson, University of Akureyri Research Centre, Iceland Moderated by Ivetta Gerasimchuk, PhD, IISD

2. direct spending on transport & monitoring infrastructure, oil spill preparedness and response research and development grants preferential loans tax breaks (reduced rates of taxes, tax credits & holidays, accelerated depreciation allowances and other) royalty relief caps on liabilities many more – see at http://www.iisd.org/gsi/fossil-fuel- subsidies/fossil-fuels-what-costhttp://www.iisd.org/gsi/fossil-fuel- subsidies/fossil-fuels-what-cost Examples of government support to upstream oil & gas industry in the Arctic

3. Hudson Bay Inland Sea Initiative

4. IISD-GSI estimates of the value of government subsidies to upstream oil & gas activities in Norway, Canada and Russia. Subsidy value estimates are not directly comparable across countries, since there is no international taxation benchmark. CountryScopeSubsidies Identified Value of Subsidies Data year Upstream oil & gas 9>$4 billion2009 Upstream oil activities, federal + 3 provinces 63$2.8 billion2008 Upstream oil & gas, Federal >20>$14 billion2010

5. How would you spend 1 million dollars to best benefit local communities in the Arctic? Richness: support infrastructure development of extractive industries, including transport infrastructure; stimulate exploration in the Arctic; introduce tax breaks and royalty relief for extractive industry companies Responsibility: support education, healthcare and housing in the High North; develop frameworks for more transparent investment contracts with extractive companies; stimulate coordination and transparency of policies at local, regional, national and international level to avoid duplication of efforts and legal uncertainties Resilience: invest in oil spill preparedness and other safeguards; protect ecosystem services and natural habitats One million can be split to support several measures.