A CEE team investigated the impacts of large-scale cropland irrigation on rainfall patterns in the East African Sahel around the Gezira Irrigation Scheme. The researchers – Associate Department Head Elfatih Eltahir, Research Affiliate Ross Alter, and Eun-Soon Im of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology – combined theoretical modeling analyses with observational evidence gathered since 1930. “Large scale development of irrigation systems is a good example of human activity that has changed land cover and the environment significantly in many regions of the world,” said Eltahir. “In all development projects, we need to better understand the potential impacts of our actions on the environment before we mindlessly develop.” Read the article here.