By MAURICIO SAVARESE and ISABEL DEBRE

BELEM, Brazil (AP) — As world leaders head to a second day of climate talks being hosted in Brazil, a major proposal to protect tropical forests worldwide is sure to be a major topic of discussion.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Thursday sought to mobilize funding to halt the ongoing destruction of tropical rainforests and advance the many unmet promises made at previous summits.

He’s proposing a fund called the Tropical Forests Forever Facility that would pay 74 developing countries to keep their trees standing, using loans from wealthier nations and commercial investors. Financed by interest-bearing debt instead of donations, it aims to make it more lucrative for governments to keep their trees rather than cut them down.

The lo

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