Colors: Blue Color

Fifty outstanding young social entrepreneurs, environmental champions, innovators and human rights activists from across the Commonwealth have been short listed for next month’s prestigious Commonwealth Youth Awards.Selection of the twenty finalists is currently being made by a panel which is carefully studying the impressive range of projects and initiatives being undertaken by young people aged between 15 and 29 and the strides they are making towards achieving sustainable development goals.The twenty finalists will attend an awards ceremony in London marking the 50th anniversary of the Commonwealth Youth Programme when the winners will be announced.

Leading Philippine digital solutions platform Globe has released its revised Environmental Sustainability Policy, underscoring the importance of circularity as it promotes mindful consumption, sustainable production, carbon reduction, resource efficiency, and comprehensive waste management strategies.

The enhanced policy supports the Philippines' Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022, which mandates large companies to recover 20% of the plastic they release into the market in 2022. This target recovery rate will increase to 80% by 2028.

Varsha Sharma has been through some turbulent years on her small farm in the mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh, in northern India. For more than a century her family have been rice farmers, but erratic rainfall and water being diverted for industry have made cultivating rice more difficult.

Seven years ago she switched to a hybrid rice variety and to growing apples, but that just caused fresh problems. The hybrid rice variety promised increased production, but needed a lot of additives, which she says damaged the soil.

India's space agency has released latest images of the Moon as its third lunar mission starts descending towards the little-explored south pole. The pictures have been taken by Vikram, Chandrayaan-3's lander, before it began the last phase of its mission.

Vikram, which carries a rover in its belly, is due to land near the south pole on 23 August. The lander detached from the propulsion module, which carried it close to the Moon.