UN chief calls for more pledges, private sector input to save global biodiversity at Colombia summit

CALI, Colombia (AP) — United Nation's Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged countries on Tuesday to make new pledges to help save global biodiversity and called for the private sector to come on board.

“Nature is life, and yet we are waging a war against it, a war where there can be no winner,” Guterres said in his opening remarks at the U.N. biodiversity summit, known as COP16, in Cali, Colombia.

“Every day, we lose more species. Every minute, we dump a garbage truck of plastic waste into our oceans, rivers and lakes,” he said. “This is what an existential crisis looks like.”

The two-week summit is a follow-up to the historic 2022 accord in Montreal, which includes 23 measures to save Earth’s plant and animal life.

Guterres' comments came a day after talks gridlocked over how to fund conservation. On Monday, eight governments pledged an additional $163 million to the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, which environmental advocates say is far off the billions needed to save global biodiversity.

So far a total of $400 million is in the fund that provides targeted support to countries and communities to conserve and restore plant and animal species and ecosystems.

“We need a lot more committed, from many more nations,” said Kristian Teleki, CEO of the conservation charity Fauna & Flora.

The 2022 agreement signed by 196 countries calls for protecting 30% of land and water by 2030, known as 30 by 30. When the agreement was signed, 17% of terrestrial and 10% of marine areas were protected — and it hasn’t changed significantly.

A report released Monday by the International Union for Conservation of Nature said 38% of the world’s trees are at risk of extinction and that the number of threatened trees is more than double the number of threatened birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians combined.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro made a 40-minute opening speech where he repeatedly warned a shift away from oil and gas energy is needed to save the world.

“Another way of producing is needed .. in order to safeguard life on this planet and of humanity,” Petro said.

Guterres said no country, rich or poor, is immune from the devastation inflicted by climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation and pollution.

“These environmental crises are intertwined. They know no borders ... they are devastating ecosystems and livelihoods, threatening human health and undermining sustainable development,” he said, blaming outdated economic models for driving the problems.

Guterres said finance promises from countries must be turned into action and support to developing countries accelerated.

"We cannot afford to leave Cali without new pledges ... and without commitments to mobilize other sources of public and private finance to deliver the Framework,” he said. “And we must bring the private sector on board. Those profiting from nature cannot treat it like a free, infinite resource.”

The U.N. leader highlighted the importance of Indigenous people, people of African descent and local communities as the “guardians of nature”.

“Their traditional knowledge is a living library of biodiversity conservation," he said. "They must be protected. And they must be part of every biodiversity conversation.”

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Follow Steven Grattan on X: @sjgrattan

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FILE - A cormorant gets a running start to take off from the calm waters of Northeast Harbor, Maine, at sunrise Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

FILE - A fisherman casts his net in a lake polluted by oil on the outskirts of Moanda, western Democratic Republic of Congo, Dec. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, File)

FILE - A member of the Pakanyo tribe set a fire in protected forest land at Chiang Mai province, Thailand, Monday, April 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

An artist spray paints the finishing touches on a mural a day ahead of the COP16 United Nations biodiversity conference, in host city Cali, Colombia, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Animals in risk of extinction display is exhibited in the green zone, a day ahead of the COP16 United Nations biodiversity conference, in host city Cali, Colombia, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Boats maneuver low water levels amid a drought on the Amazon River, at a port that connects Colombia with Peru, in Leticia, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

FILE - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

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NEW YORK (AP) — Rising technology stocks are sending the Nasdaq composite toward a record on Tuesday, but trading is mixed along the rest of Wall Street as homebuilders, Ford Motor and others sink following their latest profit reports.

The S&P 500 was 0.4% higher in late trading, even though the majority of stocks in the index were falling. It's hanging near its all-time high set earlier this month.

Gains for influential Big Tech stocks helped push indexes higher, including a 0.9% gain for the Nasdaq that has it on track to top its record set in July. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, was down 86 points, or 0.2%, with a little more than half an hour remaining in trading.

Alphabet rose 2.1% ahead of its profit report scheduled to arrive after trading ends for the day. The parent company of Google will be the latest member of the influential group of stocks known as the “Magnificent Seven” to report its quarterly results, and each will have to deliver big growth to justify their high prices.

Other rivals like Microsoft and Nvidia were the strongest forces pushing the S&P 500 upward.

They helped offset an 8% drop for Ford Motor, which said an underlying measure of profit for the full year will likely come in at the bottom end of its forecasted range. The automaker said stubbornly high warranty expenses and other costs are holding back its profits, though its results for the third quarter were better than analysts expected.

JetBlue Airways lost 17.1% even though its results for the latest quarter were better than analysts expected. The carrier said its revenue could fall between 3% and 7% in the last three months of 2024 from a year earlier, hurt by this month’s Hurricane Milton and the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

D.R. Horton tumbled 8.2% after the homebuilder reported weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Executive Chairman David Auld said some potential home buyers are waiting for mortgage rates to become more affordable and are sitting on the sidelines. D.R. Horton’s results dragged down stocks of other homebuilders, and Lennar and PulteGroup both fell at least 2%.

Mortgage rates have been climbing recently because the 10-year Treasury yield has been charging higher.

Yields have rallied as report after report has shown the U.S. economy remains stronger than expected. On Tuesday, reports said confidence among U.S. consumers jumped more economists expected, while the number of job openings edged lower in September, but the number of hires remained steady.

Such numbers are forcing traders to ratchet back expectations for how much the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates, now that it's just as focused on keeping the economy humming as getting inflation down. Traders are even betting on a slim chance the Fed will keep its main interest rate steady at its meeting next week, according to data from CME Group.

That’s after the Fed kicked off its rate-cutting campaign in September with a larger-than-usual reduction. Many traders were thinking just a month ago the Fed would follow up with another bigger-than-usual cut in November.

Yields have also climbed as investors have seen former President Donald Trump’s chances of re-election improving. Economists say a Trump win could help push inflation higher in the long term, and worsening inflation could push the Fed to hike interest rates.

Trump Media & Technology Group, the company that tends to move more with Trump’s re-election odds than on its own profit prospects, climbed another 10.6% to $52.39 Tuesday. It was moving so sharply that trading of its stock was briefly halted several times during the day. The parent company of Trump’s Truth Social platform has been rallying since hitting a bottom of roughly $12 in late September.

Treasury yields were holding steady after paring gains from earlier in the day. The 10-year yield was at 4.28%, where it was late Monday, but it's still well above the 3.60% level it was sitting at in the middle of last month. Treasury yields, like stocks, have historically tended to be shaky heading into an Election Day, only to calm afterward regardless of which party wins.

In stock markets abroad, indexes mostly made modest moves outside of a 1.1% drop for stocks in Shanghai.

Crude oil prices slipped after erasing earlier gains to add to their sharp 6.1% drop from the prior day. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.4%.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

People pass the New York Stock Exchange early Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

A currency trader walks by the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A currency trader walks by the screens showing the foreign exchange rates and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A currency trader walks by the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)