We all know the saying ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and you feed him forever.’ By unpacking this cliché we can express how the Union ensures that resource development is equitable and sustainable.

First, no one in the developing world needs to be taught to fish. We have been fishing for thousands of years. Also, it is not just men who fish. Women play important roles in every fishbased economy, including catching, cleaning, drying and selling fish.

Third, no one fishes only to feed himself. Fish is traded for reed mats, fruits, medicinal plants, mud-brick walls, education or money. Fishing formally and fully employs 200 million people worldwide.

Yet, it does not help to know how to fish without a secure right to fish. With no individual or communal fishing rights, outsiders may shove fishers off their river, bay or lake, or crowd in until all parties over-fish the shrinking commons.

Fifth, without habitat there is no fish. Unless we invest in the seventh Millennium Development Goal, to ‘ensure environmental sustainability,’ the UN agenda will cave in. Unless we secure our timeless natural wealth – of reefs, soils, forests, wetlands and grasslands – our resource-based communities may unravel.

That unravelling has begun. Two-thirds of earth’s rivers rank as degraded. Worldwide, 15 of 24 ecosystem services are sick and 14 of 17 fisheries are in decline. Robbed of a river, stripped of rights, and deprived of fish, entire villages retreat into cities with no valued skills, malnourished and thirsty.

But we can recover. The Union shows the way, from rivers of life to corridors of power. We demonstrate the linkages between nature and people in the field, and take these lessons to global decision makers. We tirelessly work to halt or even reverse our past collective neglect of nature and of the humans who depend on it.

We have the capacity to deliver conservation that benefits all. Do we also have the time? Yes, if we invest wisely. All is linked. Our planet can flourish and provide ample life-giving waters where fish can thrive, and sustainable human development can follow.