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 girl jumps to touch cherry blossoms in full bloom in Fussa, outskirts Tokyo, Japan, 05 April 2014. Temperatures being very constant made blossoms to keep full bloom for holiday makers. (Photo by Kimimasa Mayama/EPA)

The buildings of the banking district are seen through thousands of rain drops on a glass railing in central Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, January 11, 2017. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

A 180 degrees rotated photograph shows the shadows of Polina (L), a six-year-old Belarusian first grade school girl, and her father, cast on the street while on their way to Polina's first day of school, which marks the traditional start of the academic year, in Minsk, Belarus, 02 September 2019. The start of a new academic year in Belarus, officially called Day of Knowledge, is a festive day for all school and university students in the country. (Photo by Tatyana Zenkovich/EPA/EFE)

Police detain a woman as people gather at a memorial site in Clapham Common Bandstand, following the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, in London, Britain on March 13, 2021. (Photo by Hannah McKay/Reuters)

Seven-year-old Ruby Macis explores the stunning sunflower field at Balgone Estate, East Lothian, UK on August 6 2024, which prepares to open to the public for the second year this week with quarter of a million sunflowers over seven acres. (Photo by South West News Service)

Ukrainian law enforcement officers restrain an activist of women's rights group Femen, who holds a protest outside the presidential administration headquarters while marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women in Kyiv, Ukraine on November 25, 2020. (Photo by Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

“Sangoma” initiate Dipuo Banda (C) is led out of her teachers shack while she remains in a trance like state prior to dancing during her 3 day initiation ceremony with her teacher, family, friends and students in the Alexandra Township in Johannesburg, South Africa, 14 May 2021. Sangomas, the Zulu term for Medicine Women or traditional healers, fulfill different social and political roles in the community, including divination, physical healing, emotional and spiritual illnesses, directing birth or death rituals and finding lost cattle. (Photo by Kim Ludbrook/EPA/EFE)