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

The framework was made to deal with the contradictions between the protection of Chengjiang animal fossils and mineral exploitation. In recent years, people in Chengjiang County and some surrounding areas began to open up phosphoric deposits on thefringes of the Chengjiang fauna fossil protected zones, posing a threat to this vital archaeological site.

The framework, drawn up by prestigious Yunnan University, underscores on coordinating efforts in protecting Chengjiang faunafossils while boosting local economic growth and integrating scientific research with protection. It covers a wide range of subjects, said Zhang Keqin, vice president of Yunnan University.

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

Chengjiang fossils, dating back some 500 million years, includehuge 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 noted research fellow with the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences when he conducted field studies at Maotian Mountain in Chengjiang County, the original discovery site. To date, scientists have spotted fossils of 180 species in 40 categories.