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)

A view through mist shows the Kirk of Saint Mary Magdalene in Primorsk, Leningrad Region, Russia on March 24, 2019. (Photo by Anton Vaganov/Reuters)

A person sits in a chair next to the Garzweiler lignite opencast mine at the Luetzerath village near Erkelenz, Germany, Tuesday, January 10, 2023. Environmental activists were locked in a standoff with police this week around the hamlet of Luetzerath that's due to be bulldozed for the expansion of a nearby lignite mine. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Giant bamboo cones, used to protect rice from overnight moisture during its drying process, in the Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh in the second decade of April 2025. (Photo by Bipul Ahmed/Solent News & Photo Agency)

Naturally, it is important that a baby learn the right habits. This woman demonstrates that smoking is wrong for babies. From a series of images parodying women's lifestyle and beauty magazines. (Photo by Jacobsen/Getty Images). 1955

Sculptures entitled “The Rising Tide” by British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor are seen beside the River Thames in front of the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye ferris wheel in London, September 3, 2015. The representations of four horses and riders are fully visible at low tide but become immersed underwater twice a day as the Thames rises to reach full tide. The installation will be on display throughout September as part of the annual Totally Thames festival. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)

A sacrificial camel gets a haircut with patterns at the animal market on the outskirts of Karachi, Pakistan September 22, 2015. Muslims across the world are preparing to celebrate the annual festival of Eid al-Adha or the Feast of the Sacrifice, which marks the end of the annual haj pilgrimage, by slaughtering goats, sheep, cows and camels in commemoration of the Prophet Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son to show obedience to Allah. Eid al-Adha in India falls on September 25. (Photo by Akhtar Soomro/Reuters)

A man takes a shower on a street from water coming from a drainpipe as it rains in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, July 27, 2016. During the last couple of weeks short but intense tropical downpours have been coming down of Havana every afternoon. (Photo by Desmond Boylan/AP Photo)