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Environment and Natural Resources 93 deployment of military forces near exploitation sites and along sea-lanes of communication, the stockpiling of strategic resources, efforts to prop up friendly governments in producing countries, as well as support to multinational companies and favourable international agreements. Traditional Western strategic thinking remained concernedwithaccesstosupplies, which might be threatened by the Soviet Union. A particular concern was Western control of oil . in the Gulf and strategic minerals n in Southern and Central Africa. s o After the end of the Cold War and r the disintegration of the Soviet a l Union, the security of supply g continues to worry government C e and business decisions with n regard to several minerals, in S particular radioactive materials. d A However, oil continues to be the © most important resource in global strategy. satisfy any substantial rise in oil demand. Saudi Arabia has The global economy relied on oil for much of the 20th century a quarter of the world’s total reserves and is the single largest as a portable and indispensable producer. Iraq’s known reserves fuel. The immense wealth are second only to Saudi Arabia’s. associated with oil generates And, since substantial portions of political struggles to control it, and the history of petroleum Iraqi territory are yet to be fully explored, there is a fair chance is also the history of war and struggle. Nowhere is this more that actual reserves might be far larger. The United States, obviously the case than in West Asia and Central Asia. West Europe, Japan, and increasingly India and China, which consume Asia, specifically the Gulf region, this petroleum, are located at a accounts for about 30 per cent of global oil production. But it considerable distance from the region. has about 64 per cent of the planet’s known reserves, and is Water is another crucial therefore the only region able to resource that is relevant to global Reprint 2026-27