Authors: Qin, Siyu; Pratzer, Marie;Meyfroidt, Patrick;Kuemmerle, Tobias;

International funding for conservation has grown over the last decades. Yet, much unclarity remains about what factors affect such decisions – particularly at the subnational level and between major donors. Five considerations are often mentioned in literature and grant descriptions: 1) conserving areas with more environmental assets (species, carbon, water); 2) conserving areas with higher level of threats, 3) conserving areas where the cost is low, 4) conserving areas steward by Indigenous people and local communities (IPLC), and 5) conserving places with previous investment (agglomeration effect). Using a georeferenced database of 1160 internationally funded projects related to conservation in South America’s major deforestation frontiers, we examined the influences of the aforementioned considerations on the level of funding committed to an area. Our results showed that funding has been committed to areas with higher species richness and higher carbon density, but not as much to places with higher water provision importance. Cost and previous investments influenced funding allocation more than deforestation threats or the existence of IPLC. We further showed the factors influencing the distribution of foreign conservation funding from major donors, and discussed the implications for more targeted strategies to improve the resource allocation for conservation.