A massive weather modification network – the largest ever — is being planned for the Tibetan Plateau. The plan, according to recent reports, is to cover an area of the size of Spain with thousands of fuel burning chambers (roughly akin to upside-down rockets) to blast silver iodide into the atmosphere, stimulating cloud formation and precipitation.

The immediate aim of the project, as proposed by the Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (a major military contractor), would be to channel additional rainfall into China's northern regions to the tune of 5-10 billion cubic meters per year. This could have devastating effects on the livelihoods of the pastoralists and peasants living at the Tibetan Plateau. But the effects could be even more far-reaching: the project will have unknown effects on global climate patterns, and could potentially create a de facto infrastructure for geoengineering.