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Includes bibliographical references (pages 70-71). ; March, 1983. ; The Colorado Drought Response Plan of 1981 assigned drought monitoring responsibilities to a special intergovernmental technical working group called the Colorado Water Availability Task Force (WATF). The intent of this group is to use existing data sources and information products to monitor Colorado's water supplies. The information assembled and interpreted by the WATF is then used by State decision makers to guide State government's response to drought. The Palmer Index, developed in the 1960's, has become a credible tool for monitoring drought and assessing drought severity on the national scale. It reasonably depicts soil moisture conditions using a simple hydrologic balance accounting for precipitation, evapotranspiration, runoff and soil moisture recharge. However, experiences of the WATF have revealed that Palmer Index values, currently generated weekly through the growing season by the National Climatic Data Center for 5 climatic divisions in Colorado, were only marginally useful for drought monitoring. The regions were too large and climatically diverse, and input temperature and precipitation data were not adequately controlled to produce consistent and meaningful results. With the encouragement arid cooperation of the WATF this project was undertaken to adapt the Palmer Index model to Colorado. The original program was brought to Colorado, the state was broken down into 25 climatically similar regions, and a simple routine for adjusting input data to correct for missing data and station moves was implemented. The existing model was then used to generate 30 years of monthly Palmer Index values for all 25 regions of the state. A thorough examination of these new Palmer Indexes has been performed. Comparisons with the original indexes show noticeable differences and considerable small scale detail which previously could not be resolved. With the new smaller regions it is now reasonable to use contour analysis of Palmer Index values to visually describe local variations in drought severity across Colorado. Two case studies were conducted to show how the new indexes compared to original index values during severe drought situations: 1) the end of the 1956 drought on the Eastern Plains, and 2) the 1976-1977 winter drought in the Colorado mountains. A particular application of the Palmer Index was given special attention. Palmer Index values were correlated with dryland winter wheat yields. The best correlations with annual yields were obtained using June 1 or July 1 Palmer Index values. Good correlations were obtained in most of the major wheat growing areas but especially in the northeastern counties of Colorado. Better correlations were obtained using indexes calculated for the new areas than were obtaining using the original index values. The WATF agreed that the capability to calculate Palmer Indexes here in Colorado, with our own choice of climatic divisions, greatly increases the utility of this drought monitoring tool. More refinements are possible, and further study conducted jointly with agricultural interests would be desirable. This index is already of sufficient value to the WATF to justify the low cost required to produce it on a routine monthly basis.

Human rights due diligence is today a key aspect of the international, regional and national debates about corporate accountability for human rights abuse. It is a process by which businesses are expected to assess actual and potential human rights impacts, integrate and act upon the findings, track the responses, and communicate how those impacts are addressed. Yet there is little research as to how effective human rights due diligence is and whether its aim to prevent business activities which have adverse impacts on human rights, has been achieved in state and business practices. HRDD is now at the crossroads as it begins to become part of legislation, which will firmly test its potential to contribute substantively to the prevention of corporate human rights abuses. Drawing on developments in law and empirical research, this article examines the effectiveness of human rights due diligence as a means to prevent business activities which have adverse impacts on human rights, in relation to the actions of states, business and rightsholders.

This article examines some of the limits of reporting schemes as a tool for addressing business-related human rights risks and for engaging business in a collaborative effort to improve human rights. Australia's Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) (MSA) is the latest example globally of a legislative scheme intended to foster corporate action on such risks within businesses' operations and supply chains. Some such schemes require firms to implement human rights due diligence (HRDD) measures, as envisaged by the 2011 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. However, the MSA's model is best described as a disclosure or reporting regime. Such regimes do not require businesses to take HRDD measures; rather, they only require businesses to report on any such measures that they have taken during the relevant reporting period. In this article, we analyse some of the assumptions underlying the design of reporting-based schemes. We then consider one practice used by firms facing supply chain scrutiny: social auditing. We caution against an over-reliance on this practice, which is not synonymous with HRDD. It does not necessarily promote fulsome, non-cosmetic reporting compliance or foster corporate action on underlying human rights risks. We finally offer some alternative approaches that could improve the effectiveness of measures to address human rights risks in supply chains.