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The question of how the complexity of water governance may be understood beyond a heuristic concept remains unanswered. In this paper, we propose a Water Governance Complexity Framework to address the complexity of water governance. Through a literature review, rapid surveys, and 79 semi-structured interviews, we propose how this framework may be operationalized using different proxies and by applying it to the case of the water supply system for domestic use in Oaxaca, Mexico. In places such as the rural communities of Oaxaca, where the state plays a partially absent role in the water supply, we found legal pluralism and diverse formal and informal stakeholders in a multi-level structure. At the local level, four modes of governance were identified, resulting from seven institutional change trajectories. These trajectories result from linear (alignment) and non-linear (resistance and adaptation) interactions between local, state, and national institutions over different periods. We provide a pragmatic framework to understand complexity through the organization and historical configurations of water governance that may be applied globally, providing a necessary starting point and solid foundation for the creation of new water policies and law reforms or transitions to the polycentric governance model to ensure the human right to water and sanitation.

Baird´s tapir has been documented to cause little crop damage. However, the damage they do cause has led farmers to hunt them to prevent them from entering their fields. This study aims to identify damage caused by Baird´s tapir in crops in rural communities surrounding the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, as well to analyze variables influencing crop damage. Ecological and agricultural variables, as well as those related to crop protection measures, were examined. In order to measure the ecological variables, habitat and availability of wild fruit were characterized along transects. Agricultural variables and crop protection measures were measured through a questionnaire. In all study communities, tapirs were found to damage crops (an average of 14% of all crops among the 4 communities). The variables "number of farmers who cultivate beans" and "number of farmers applying other protective measures"were positively correlated with "percentage of crop damage". Generalized linear models showed that "number of farmers who cultivate beans" was the variable that best explained crop damage by the tapir. This study addresses the interaction between farmers and tapirs, providing information that could help explain crop damage caused by this mammal surrounding the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve.

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