176. Firstly, I would like to thank Ecuador for the introduction to its proposal. Bolivia shares the concerns and ideas expressed by the delegation of Ecuador in communication IP/C/W/585. As many of you already know, in 2011, Bolivia, together with Venezuela, presented a similar proposal in the Trade and Environment Committee in special session.
177. Patents limit the possibility for developing countries to adopt environmentally sound technologies, since patent holders, mainly concentrated in developed countries, are able to raise the costs of access or deny it altogether. Given the unprecedented mobilization of environmental technologies required to address the environmental crisis, existing flexibilities in relation to patents and other intellectual property rights must be reinforced and further expanded in order to ensure that the environmental technology needs of developing countries are met, enabling sustainable development while helping to curb the environmental crisis. As the IPCC warned in its most recent assessment report, we cannot continue business as usual in the face of an environmental and climate crisis of such magnitude that it endangers the very future of mankind. We need to adapt the rules of the game to this special situation. By amending the TRIPS Agreement to facilitate the transfer of environmental technologies to developing countries, the WTO would be making a decisive contribution to resolving climate and environmental crises.
178. Such a contribution by the WTO would also be in line with the sustainable development principles adopted multilaterally in the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, which has just been reaffirmed by our Heads of State at Rio+20, in particular Principle 7, which affirms that "in view of the different contributions to environmental degradation, States have common but differentiated responsibilities. The developed countries acknowledge the responsibility that they bear in the international pursuit of sustainable development in view of the pressures their societies place on the global environment and of the technologies and financial resources they command". This is a critical principle which guides international community action in the field of sustainable development and which should also guide WTO negotiations in this area. It is important to remember that the Rio Declaration forms part of the treaty context which served as the basis for formulating the reference to the objective of sustainable development in the first paragraph of the preamble of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, and is therefore more than relevant in our context.
179. In this light, we welcome the proposal made by Ecuador in document IP/C/W/585, which suggests that environmental technologies be declared public goods and that the world community be urged to take full advantage of the flexibilities envisaged in the TRIPS Agreement so that countries can adopt the measures needed to address the current environmental crisis. This should be part of the WTO's contribution to countering the effects of climate change.
