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.

全球土著人民正在积极寻求对具有文化意义的动植物的更好认识，其中包括物种和生态群落。对生物多样性保护中具有重要文化意义的实体的认可和协作管理可以改善环境成果以及土著人民的健康和福祉。土著知识、价值观和义务的全球多样性和复杂性使得实现指定具有文化意义的实体的通用方法的可能性极小。相反，通过方法来赋予当地原住民主导的治理结构以识别基于地方的具有重要文化意义的实体，将产生文化支持的结果。在这里，我们使用了由土著专家制定的结构化决策框架，其中包含目标和生物文化措施，目的是优先考虑基于地方的具有重要文化意义的实体，以在澳大利亚东部沿海的 Bundjalung 国家采取协作管理方法。与当前法律和政策所支持的受威胁物种管理的殖民焦点相比，我们发现具有文化意义的实体的优先事项和管理之间存在一些一致性和一些重要差异。我们提供可复制的方法，并展示了在澳大利亚背景下成功的当地具有重要文化意义的实体的指定和优先顺序，突出了土著领导力的机会，并得到政府在指定和管理具有重要文化意义的实体方面的支持。