Environment Minister Marian Hobbs has paid tribute to yachtsman and environmentalist Sir Peter Blake.

"This is a tragedy for all of us and I wish to express my deepest sympathy to his wife and family and to his crew and members of Blakexpeditions.

"We were all so proud when, just five months ago, Sir Peter was made a special environmental envoy to the United Nations Environment Programme.

"This recognised the special contribution Sir Peter had made to the global environmental cause.

"The head of the UNEP, Dr Klaus Topfer, saw in Sir Peter someone who had both the respect of the world community and the knowledge of change in the ocean environment.

"Sir Peter brought to his environmental work the same passion for honesty and knowledge that marked his great campaigns.

"We will miss him sorely."

Ends

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On The Geo-political Posturing Over China’s Cyber Hacks, Plus The Weekly Playlist

The timing was one of the weirder aspects of this week’s cyber condemnation of China by the West. Why was this piece of political theatre being staged now? China (and Russia’s) sponsoring and/or condoning of semi-state and criminal hacker groups has been known about for nigh on a decade. More particularly, Microsoft had been alerted to the flaws in its Microsoft Exchange... More>>