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)

Two visitors look at an artwork “Home Sweet Home: Pandemic Love 1” created by Hong Kong artist Mak Ying Tung at Art Basel in Hong Kong Wednesday, May 19, 2021. Art Basel, one of the world's most prestigious modern and contemporary art exhibitions, is returning to Hong Kong in its ninth edition. The prestige art fair is hosting 104 galleries from 23 countries and territories. (Photo by Vincent Yu/AP Photo)

A woman passes Members of historical clubs dressed in the uniform of French soldiers during ceremony of repatriation of the remains of French General Charles-Etienne Gudin de la Sablonniere, participant in the French Revolutionary wars and Napoleonic wars, to France in Moscow airport Vnukovo-3, Russia, 13 July 2021. (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA/EFE)

Behishta,11, listens during 4th grade class at the Zarghoona high school on July 25 2021 in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Zarghoona girls high school is the largest in Kabul with 8,500 female students attending classes. The school opened after a nearly two-month break due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Yedam Kim (L) and Chaewon Kim, both of South Korea, look at a smartphone backstage after performing on stage during the first day of the 51st Prix de Lausanne at the Theatre de Beaulieu, in Lausanne, Switzerland, 30 January 2023. (Photo by Laurent Gillieron/EPA)

In a photo taken on June 5, 2017 a traffic security officer stands on duty at an intersection in Pyongyang. Officially known as traffic security officers but universally referred to as traffic ladies, they are chosen for their looks in a society that remains traditionalist in many respects. They must leave the role if they marry, and have a finite shelf-life, with compulsory retirement looming at just 26. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

A Mongolian Shamaness or Buu, beats her drum while taking part with others in a fire ritual meant to summon spirits to mark the period of the Summer Solstice in the grasslands on June 22, 2018 outside Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Banned for 70 years under Communist rule, shamanism has seen a resurgence in Mongolia since 1992, when the ancient practice became protected by the country's Constitution. Known as Tengrism, in which Shamans channel ancestral spirits, it is widely regarded as Mongolia's national religion and part of its indigenous identity. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Uranjargal, a leader of the Mongolian neo-Nazi group Tsagaan Khass, stands next to a statue of Chingunjav, a Mongolian national hero, in Ulan Bator June 22, 2013. The group has rebranded itself as an environmentalist organisation fighting pollution by foreign-owned mines, seeking legitimacy as it sends Swastika-wearing members to check mining permits. Over the past years, ultra-nationalist groups have expanded in the country and among those garnering attention is Tsagaan Khass, which has recently shifted its focus from activities such as attacks on women it accuses of consorting with foreign men to environmental issues, with the stated goal of protecting Mongolia from foreign mining interests. This ultra-nationalist group was founded in the 1990s and currently has 100-plus members. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)