Scores of paleontologists from various parts of China converged on Chengjiang County in southwestern Yunnan Province to draw up a framework on protecting the famous Chengjiang fauna fossils and adjacent geological environment.

The framework was readied to deal with the contradictions between the protection of Chengjiang animal fossils and mineral exploitation. In recent years, people in the county and some surrounding areas have opened up phosphoric deposits on the fringes of the fauna fossil protected zones, posing a threat to this vital archeological site.

The framework, drawn up by Yunnan University, underscores the need to coordinate efforts in protecting Chengjiang fauna fossils while boosting local economic growth and integrating scientific research with protection. It covers a wide range of subjects, Zhang Keqin, vice president of Yunnan University, revealed.

Meanwhile, the paleontology laboratory of Yunnan University was inaugurated last week to make a further study of the fauna fossils in Chengjiang, where fossils recording the "Cambrian explosion" were discovered.

Chengjiang fossils, dating back some 500 million years, include huge quantities of tiny multicellular animals and their embryos, which are said to be the earliest multicellular animals on Earth. Their discovery has led to significant breakthroughs in attempts to understand human evolution and was deemed as the "most amazing discovery in the 20th century."

The first discovery was made in July 1984 by Hou Xianguang, a research fellow at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. So far, fossils of 180 species have been spotted.

(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2005)