Brazil is proposing a fund that would pay countries to protect tropical forests that are crucial to curbing climate change. It would generate returns, too. …Enter the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, a new fund that Brazil is pitching to the world and that would pay developing countries a fee for every hectare of forest they maintain. The project, first presented at the global climate summit in Dubai, last November, is now in its final stages of design and it could ultimately pay out $4 billion a year to protect forests. The fund’s mission is to flip the economics that have long fueled deforestation… Farming, logging and other industries. …Brazil’s fund would effectively pay countries for services that tropical forests now perform for free, such as storing planet-warming carbon and regulating rain patterns. …Brazil envisions a $125 billion fund. [to access the full story a NY Times subscription may be required].

In related Associated Press news: G20 environment ministers back funding for forest conservation