澄江化石地申遗成功使中国拥有首个化石类世界遗产，填补了中国化石类自然遗产的空白。澄江化石地位于云南省玉溪市澄江县境内，面积512公顷，缓冲区面积220公顷，距今5.3亿年，于1984年被发现，被誉为“20世纪最惊人的古生物发现之一”。澄江化石地共涵盖16个门类、200余个物种，这在世界同类化石地中极为罕见，完整展示了寒武纪早期海洋生物群落和生态系统。

China now has yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Chengjiang Fossil Site in Yunnan Province has made the list, following hot on the heels of Inner Mongolia's Xanadu's inscription, which attained the honor over the weekend.
After eight years on the waiting list, Chengjiang is China's first world heritage site for fossils. It is also the country's 31st UNESCO Site. Chengjiang's fossils are exceptionally well-preserved examples of a very wide variety of marine organisms from the early Cambrian period.
It's a great testimony to the diversity of life that existed on earth 5-hundred million years ago.