Among the fish populations that could be harmed by the Xayaburi dam in Laos is the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish, considered by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the world’s largest freshwater fish. The fish, which grows to 650 pounds and about 10 feet long, is only found in the Mekong River. It is migratory, moving between downstream habitats in Cambodia upstream to northern Thailand and Laos each year to spawn. Some experts fear the Xayaburi dam could block the migration and drive the giant catfish to extinction. (Photo by Courtesy of Zeb Hogan/University of Nevada, Reno)

Four-year-old Solaris Arias (right) jumps through water spraying from an open fire hydrant in Providence, Rhode Island, on June 20, 2012. Much of the state remained under a heat advisory Tuesday afternoon because of the steamy air mass that has moved into the region resulting in temperatures in the 90s. (Photo by Steven Senne/AP Photo)

View of the work “Divided” (2016), within the visual artist's exhibition “Urs Fischer: Lovers”, exhibited at the Museo Jumex in Mexico City, Mexico 31 March 2022. The sensations and emotions of love and life, as well as the energy and forces that create and wear it down, inhabit “Urs Fischer: Lovers”, the first solo exhibition in Mexico by Swiss plastics artist Urs Fischer. (Photo by Alex Cruz/EPA/EFE)

In this photo taken Wednesday, April 30, 2014, a dragonfly sits on the nose of a Gharial, rare crocodile-like creatures, in the River Chambal near Bhopepura village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The narrow 250-mile stretch of the Chambal is a place of crocodiles and jackals, of river dolphins and the occasional wolf. Hundreds of species of birds, storks, geese, babblers, larks, falcons and so many more, nest along the river. Endangered birds lay small speckled eggs in tiny pits they dig in the sandbars. Gharials, rare crocodile-like creatures that look like they swaggered out of the Mesozoic Era, are commonplace here and nowhere else. (Photo by Altaf Qadri/AP Photo)

A group of hikers atop Mount St. Helens on July 21, 2016. Mount St. Helens or Louwala-Clough is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is 96 miles south of Seattle, Washington, and 50 miles northeast of Portland, Oregon. (Photo by Raxit Kagalwala)

Fishermen collect their catch from a net at Dojran Lake, Macedonia, January 4, 2017. Fish from the lake is a traditional food for locals for orthodox Christmas eve, which falls on January 6. The lake faced sustainability issues during the 1990s due to drought and excessive use of its water but has since recovered after measures were taken to replenish and sustain water levels, according to local media. Dojran Lake is one of the three natural lakes in Macedonia, and also the warmest. It is said it is also the richest lake in fish in Europe. (Photo by Ognen Teofilovski/Reuters)

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, illuminate the sky over Flakstad beach on Lofoten Islands in the Arctic Circle on September 5, 2017. (Photo by Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP Photo)

The aerial view shows three uprooted trees at a road near Hildesheim, Germany Friday, October 6, 2017. Seven people died Thursday as high winds knocked over trees and caused widespread travel chaos in northern Germany. (Photo by Julian Stratenschulte/DPA via AP Photo)