Location and Values: The Chengjiang Fossil Site protects an outstanding variety of fossils from the earliest part of the Cambrian period, about 530 million years ago. These include nearly 200 species of marine animals, illustrating the rapid diversification of life on Earth at this time. They are exceptionally well preserved, showing hard and soft tissues, and stages in the development of the world’s first vertebrates.
The site is particularly important because it shows the complexity of a marine ecosystem, with a wide range of different species adapted to particular ecological niches and positions in complex food webs that included sophisticated predators.
Conservation Status and Prospects. According to IUCN’s Conservation Outlook Assessment (2014) the conservation status of Chengjiang Fossil Site is ‘good’. The IUCN report notes that ‘The site is protected under law and relatively effectively administered by a management authority with the guidance of comprehensive management plans. Former low-level threats have been overcome, but new threats such as the illegal collection of fossils and future demand for more infrastructure development associated with growing visitor numbers will require careful management.’
Official UNESCO Site Details
IUCN Conservation Outlook
UNEP-WCMC Site Description