Under detailed settings, tourism can add to the material and immaterial values of the use of biodiversity, such as non-timber forest products (NTFPs) collected by traditional communities, towards sustainability in rural landscapes. A critical aspect is to effectively assess where to implement tourism modalities that enhance NTFP extractivism and reduce the emphasis on the quantities extracted (yields). Here, we map NTFP extractivism and community-based tourism initiatives in Brazil to explore local markets, use a spatially explicit modeling approach and map landscape-scale governance mechanisms to upscale where sociobiodiversity can be successfully cherished through a community-led visitation and management model. Our results show suitable large areas to upscale community-based tourism (CBT) markets for NTFP extractivism in the Amazon and Cerrado, which can be supported by available social capital and partnerships. However, there is a lack of infrastructure and institutions to support their implementation. We evidence innovative ways for enhancing the role of tourism for Brazil’s sociobiodiversity and fostering transitions towards multifunctional sustainable land uses.

Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP), contribute to the livelihoods of over 6 million people in Amazon and over 4 million people in the Cerrado biomes. Here we explored data on the socio-ecology of extractivist landscapes at the biome scale in Amazonia and Cerrado in Brazil. We found that there are market chains for 45 and 58 NTFPs in Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado, respectively. Although there is a vast repertoire of empirical data for characterizing sociobiodiversity in Brazil this body of literature is mostly case-study driven, focusing on a very limited number of products and using different methodological approaches. Therefore, although there is a robust research legacy meaningful comparisons are very challenging. So far we have a fragmented view of vegetal extractivist dynamics at the biome scale. Our work contributes to upscale from the socioecology of individual NTFP to the biome scale encompassing a variety of products and its associated livelihoods.

Cultural ecosystem services (CESs), despite providing multiple non-material benefits associated with human well-being, have been overlooked in urban planning. Using as a pilot study the municipality of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, we map and evaluate the inclusion of CESs into land use policy to better inform urban planning. We tested a framework for: (1) assessing the preferences of local inhabitants for CESs and landscape features; (2) evaluating land use policies; and (3) mapping CES hotspots in the city. We found sense of place and recreation to be the main CESs associated with parks, squares and cultural centres. No land use policy explicitly mentioned CESs, while the zoning plans do not reflect bundles of spatial non-material values and landscape features. This pilot study can play a vital role in developing more comprehensive insights to bridge urban planning and landscape preferences to help guiding land use policy review towards sustainable urbanisation.