Local villagers fall onto the ground from an ox-cart as they ride to rid evil spirits from their village at Pring Ka-ek village, Cambodi. (Photo by Heng Sinith/AP Photo)

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 paddler races in a giant pumpkin during the annual regatta on Lake Pisiquid in Windsor, Nova Scotia, Sunday, October 11, 2015. Participants hollow out the massive gourds and pilot them across the 500 meter course. (Photo by Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press via AP Photo)

A man walks towards a wave breaking on a rock pool at North Narrabeen Beach in Sydney on April 18, 2025, as large swells hit the east coast of Australia. (Photo by David Gray/AFP Photo)

A prong extending from a remote-controlled robot prototype approaches the mouth of a volunteer to extract a throat swab sample, as part of a self-funded project to assist physicians in running tests on suspected COVID-19 coronavirus patients in a bid to limit human exposure to disease-carriers, at a private hospital in Egypt's Nile delta city of Tanta, on March 20, 2021. (Photo by Khaled Desouki/AFP Photo)

Spot-billed pelican interact on the banks of an artificial lake in Colombo on September 28, 2021. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)

Norwegian tennis player Jenny Stray Spetalen arrives for the screening of the film “Le Comte de Monte-Cristo” (The Count of Monte-Cristo) at the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 22, 2024. (Photo by Yara Nardi/Reuters)

Indian artist, Ravi Kali (32), dressed as Hindu goddess Kali, participates in a religious procession for the Hindu festival, Ganesh Chaturthi in New Delhi on September 24, 2015. (Photo by Chandan Khanna/AFP Photo)