Growing cities, overuse of fertilizers and factory wastewater have degraded China's water supplies to the extent that half the nation's rivers and lakes are severely polluted. China aims to spend $850 billion to improve filthy water supplies over the next decade, but even such huge outlays may do little to reverse damage caused by decades of pollution and overuse in Beijing's push for rapid economic growth. Photo: Fishermen row a boat in the algae-filled Chaohu Lake in Hefei, Anhui province, June 19, 2009. (Photo by Jianan Yu/Reuters)

A woman offers prayers by a road as a rickshaw puller transports passengers in Kolkata October 28, 2014. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

A Syrian refugee man (obscured) moves boxes of goods at his shop in Zaatari refugee camp near the border with Syria, in Mafraq, Jordan October 15, 2016. (Photo by Ammar Awad/Reuters)

Indian actress, singer and the winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant Priyanka Chopra starred as Victoria Leeds in the 2017 remake of “Baywatch”. (Photo by AP Photo/Paramount Pictures)

Palestinians react as they gather at the site of an explosion, following Israeli strikes in Gaza City on August 5, 2022. (Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

Polar frame, by Dmitry Kokh, Russia. When Kokh’s boat approached the small island of Kolyuchin in the Russian High Arctic, which had been abandoned by humans since 1992, he was surprised to spot movement in one of the houses. Binoculars revealed polar bears – more than 20 in total – exploring the ghost town. Dmitry used a low-noise drone to document them. (Photo by Dmitry Kokh/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022)

Against the scorching sun, a hungry jackal chases a flock of birds looking for a quick morning snack. Taken in South Africa's Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park, these images capture the moment a lone hunter tries, and then succeeds, in his pursuit. (Photo by John Mullineux/Solent News)

Trialist Pavel Prikhodko attempts to pull an An-2 plane as a cat walks nearby during a charity event near the village of Tatarka in Stavropol Region, Russia on December 27, 2020. (Photo by Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)