Evolutionary governance and the patrimonialization of karst geodiversity in a territory under active mining and in a non-extractive reference case: contrasting institutional trajectories in Minas Gerais, Brazil

• Karst geodiversity heritage is shaped by evolving governance trajectories, not by recognition alone. • Evolutionary Governance Theory reveals how narratives, institutions and materialities co-evolve in karst landscapes. • Contrasting institutional pathways explain uneven heritage outcomes in extractive and non-extractive contexts. • Heritage-making operates as a form of symbolic and territorial governance in regions shaped by extraction. • Comparative analysis shows how heritage can coexist with, rather than simply replace, extractive land uses. This article analyses the processes of geodiversity heritage-making in karst landscapes in Minas Gerais, Brazil. A qualitative, comparative approach based on Evolutionary Governance Theory (EGT) is used. The study compares two cases with different land-use and regulatory regimes: Lagoa Santa karst, with ongoing mining, urban pressures, and institutional fragmentation; and the Peruaçu Valley, a non-extractive area beyond active mining that has more stable heritage governance. Core EGT concepts such as trajectory creation, path dependence, bifurcation points (e.g., the 1990s mining moratorium in Peruaçu), and reality effects are used. These are combined with a typology of heritage narratives and six empirical dimensions from patrimonialization literature. The aim is to understand how norms, discourses, and materialities evolve together in geoheritage production. The results show that Peruaçu Valley has a more unified, multi-level trajectory. Its heritage-making relies on organised institutions, participatory methods, and a common narrative. In contrast, Lagoa Santa has overlapping rules, limited coordination between governance levels, and land-use disputes, with heritage largely symbolic. The comparison shows that karst heritage-making is a dynamic, political-territorial process shaped by unequal narrative systems and institutional strength. Heritage governance can offer a territorial alternative to mining and help create non-extractive futures. The study concludes that EGT is a helpful way to analyse geodiversity governance in contested karst areas. Still, it also has limits when institutional imbalance and ongoing land-use conflict are present.