Links between deforestation, conservation areas and conservation funding in major deforestation regions of South America

1. Land-use change is a major driver of biodiversity loss, affecting tropical forests and savannas at an unprecedented rate. To protect these ecosystems and their biodiversity, national conservation areas and international conservation funding have increased considerably in these regions. Understanding of how conservation funding allocation relates to dynamics in deforestation and conservation areas is crucial to identifying what mobilizes and distributes conservation funding. 2. By applying fixed-effect models on 30 years of dynamics in forest cover, conservation areas and conservation funding in the main deforestation regions of South America, we analysed the conservation funding allocation strategies in relation to deforestation (proactive vs. reactive), conservation areas (expanding or consolidating) and previous investment (agglomerating or not). We also assessed whether allocation strategies vary across regions and the stages of deforestation and conservation. 3. We found that funding allocation followed conservation areas and higher prior funding levels over space and over time, across all regions and deforestation stages. This highlights the important role of recognized conservation areas (including protected areas and Indigenous territories) in mobilizing financial support for conservation. 4. The allocation strategies relating to forest dynamics, however, varied depending on the scale of analysis, whether we look at the temporal or spatial dimension, and in which regions we assessed the allocation patterns. Capturing region-level biases and within-region dynamics is crucial for more effective and equitable conservation. 5. As public and private actors commit to mobilizing more conservation funding and conserving more areas of the Earth, our insights on the relations between forest change and conservation efforts can help improve the allocation of conservation areas and conservation funding.