Erik Solheim, the new head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), laid out the key environmental issues facing the international community today, including pollution and the connection between the environment, conflict, and migration, UN News Centre reports.

“The World Health Organisation has estimated that seven million people on the planet are dying from pollution – that is more or less the same number of people dying from cancer,” the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Erik Solheim, told reporters in Geneva.

In speaking to reporters, Solheim emphasized the importance of partnerships in UNEP’s mission, noting that “at the very minimum we will be ready to go into partnerships with companies who either behave well or are ready to change.”