The following statement was issued today by Live Earth Communications Director Kristina Schake:

Live Earth Rio de Janeiro on Copacabana Beach will go forward as planned. Earlier this week approval for the concert was withheld by local authorities who wished to review local security capabilities. We met with authorities and addressed their concerns, and the concert will continue as planned.

We are thrilled that Brazil will be a part of this monumental global event and that Latin America will help drive Live Earth’s message about working together to combat the climate crisis. Rio is the only concert that is free and open to the public, and one of Live Earth’s enduring images will be of the hundreds of thousands of people on Copacabana Beach being a part of Live Earth’s global movement.

The 24-hour Live Earth concert series will begin in Sydney, Australia on July 7, 2007 and continue across all seven continents with events in Tokyo, Japan; Shanghai, China; Johannesburg, South Africa; London, United Kingdom; Hamburg, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before concluding in New York City, United States. Live Earth marks the beginning of a multi-year campaign led by the Alliance for Climate Protection and other international NGOS to move individuals, corporations and governments to take action to solve global warming. Former Vice President of the United States Al Gore is the Chair of the Alliance for Climate Protection and a partner of Live Earth.

The following statement was issued today by Mondo Entertainment, the local Live Earth promoter in Rio:

The Military Police feels that they can guarantee the security of the show. The Military Police will guarantee the security of all the sites in Rio with the same efficiency that is required for all events.

Mondo Entertainment/Live Earth thanks the press and the public for helping to spread the important message of the Live Earth concerts.