A Hindu devotee drinks water from the Ganges River at the Sangam area, the confluence of rivers Ganges, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati, in Allahabad on March 16, 2021. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP 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)

Men rest on a boat in the overflowed Ganges River under the Shastri Bridge in Allahabad on August 17, 2022, as water levels of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers rose following monsoon rainfalls. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)

A dead red-tailed monkey hangs by its tail above the ground, in order to keep it away from ants, in the forest near the city of Mbandaka, Democratic Republic of the Congo, April 5, 2019. Bushmeat hunters are emptying Central Africa's forests at a high rate, researchers say. A growing appetite for wild meat in cities has ramped up the scale of hunting. Research shows around 6 million tonnes of bushmeat are sourced annually from the Congo Basin, whose forest spans across six countries and is second in size only to the Amazon. (Photo by Thomas Nicolon/Reuters)

A river otter (lontra longicaudis) of 6-weeks-old looks in the mirror during a bath in the Animal Welfare Unit of the Zoo in Cali, Colombia, on October 22, 2019. The baby otter was found abandoned brought to the Cali Zoo for breeding, for its extensive experience in raising these species. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature the river otter (lontra longicaudis) are in danger of extinction, because of mining, agriculture, pollution of rivers and housing construction in their habitat. (Photo by Luis Robayo/AFP Photo)

A fireman pulls a woman and her dog to shore, by a row of houseboats on the river Seine in Paris France, Wednesday June 1, 2016. The Seine River has overflowed embankments in Paris as floods hit or threaten cities and towns around France. (Photo by Jerome Delay/AP Photo)

A Sadhu or a Hindu holy man sits on the banks before taking a holy dip at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers with the mythical, invisible Saraswati river, during the “Maha Kumbh Mela”, or the Great Pitcher Festival, in Prayagraj, India, on January 13, 2025. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

A Colombian Nukak Maku Indian boy gestures in a refugee camp at Agua Bonita near San Jose del Guaviare of Guaviare province September 3, 2015. Since emerging from the jungle in 2005, half naked and carrying blowpipes, the Nukak have lived in settlements near the frontier town of San Jose del Guaviare, a humid outpost in the Amazon 400 km (250 miles) southeast of the capital Bogota. (Photo by John Vizcaino/Reuters)