Indigenous-led designation and management of culturally significant species

Indigenous peoples globally are actively seeking better recognition of plants and animals that are of cultural significance, which encompass both species and ecological communities. Acknowledgement and collaborative management of culturally significant entities in biodiversity conservation improves environmental outcomes as well as the health and wellbeing of Indigenous people. The global diversity and complexity of Indigenous knowledge, values and obligations make achieving a universal approach to designating culturally significant entities highly unlikely. Instead, empowering local Indigenous-led governance structures with methods to identify place-based culturally significant entities will yield culturally supported results. Here we used a structured decision-making framework with objectives and biocultural measures developed by Indigenous experts, with the aim of prioritizing place-based culturally significant entities for collaborative management approaches on Bundjalung Country in coastal eastern Australia. We found some congruence and some important differences between culturally significant entities priorities and management compared with the colonial focus of threatened species management underpinned by current laws and policies. We provide reproduceable methods and a demonstration of successful local culturally significant entities designation and prioritization in an Australian context that highlights opportunities for Indigenous leadership, supported by governments in the designation and management of culturally significant entities.