Shell's Arctic plan under fire in Rio Royal Dutch Shell is facing a fresh assault on its plans to drill for oil in Arctic waters off Alaska as Sir Paul McCartney and a host of Hollywood celebrities join a Greenpeace campaign to ban offshore drilling in the region. The US government gave Shell approval in December for the company's long-delayed plans to explore for oil off Alaska, after officials concluded the move would have no significant impact on fish, wildlife or local communities in the region. If Shell is successful, environmental groups fear it will spark an oil rush in one of the world's last large areas of natural wilderness. The Greenpeace campaign, launched on Thursday at the United Nations" Rio+20 earth summit, is one of the biggest the group says it has ever devised. Initially it will focus on pushing for a UN resolution for an Arctic sanctuary and bans on oil drilling and unsustainable fishing in the region. "The Arctic is one of the most beautiful and last untouched regions on our planet, but now it's under threat," said Sir Paul. It seems madness that we are willing to go to the ends of the Earth to find the last drops of oil when our best scientific minds are telling us we need to get off fossil fuels to give our children a future. Some Alaskans and other residents of the region are looking forward to the economic development oil exploration might bring, but others support the Greenpeace campaign. Rodion Sulyandziga, first vice-president of the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, said drilling posed enormous threats to many communities. "A large scale oil exploration "development" can irreversibly destroy the virgin purity of the Arctic region, putting at stake the physical existence and survival of indigenous peoples who, without their traditional living patterns, without their eternal habitat, will have no future," he said. Other celebrities joining the campaign include actors Penélope Cruz, Robert Redford, Javier Badem and Emily Blunt, as well as Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar and Radiohead lead singer, Thom Yorke. Their names will be the first 100 to be written on an "Arctic scroll" that Greenpeace will plant on the seabed at the North Pole, 4km below the ice, once 1m other names are added. The spot will be marked by a "Flag for the Future" designed by the youth of the world. "The Arctic is coming under assault and needs people from around the world to stand up and demand action to protect it," said Kumi Naidoo, Greenpeace International executive director. A ban on offshore oil drilling and unsustainable fishing would be a huge victory against the forces ranged against this precious region and the 4m people who live there.