Biocultural diversity, the diversity of life in all its biological and cultural manifestations, holds that humanity is part of the environment, and recognises symbiotic relationships between societies and their environment. Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs) around the world are increasingly asserting ‘Indigenous agency’ to engage with other partners to collaboratively steward ancestral Places and their biocultural resources. Efforts by conservation organizations to manage wildlife outside protected areas have often resulted in conflicts with IPLCs. Neocolonial agency-based approaches and practices that ignore historical injustices impose severe limitations on achieving desired conservation outcomes. These struggles have paved the way for more integrated forms of conservation – including various forms of comanagement between government agencies, conservation NGOs and communities. However, ‘comanagement’ approaches may be only partially successful in resolving conflicts, specially when power structures favour the government or international partners and limit decision making authority of communities. With examples from the Rupununi region in Guyana we illustrate different ways in which IPLCs are steering wildlife management and conservation in partnership with local NGOs, international partners and the national government. We emphasize the need for more innovative biocultural approaches to wildlife management that encompass Indigenous and local community knowledge, innovations, and practices and explicitly foster collaboration, lead to social learning, trust-building, and the formation of social networks of communities, researchers, and decision-makers.