The Caminhos dos Cânions do Sul UNESCO Global Geopark in southern Brazil covers an area of 2,830.8 km² and is home to 74,120 inhabitants. It is characterized by Atlantic Forests, one of the planet’s richest ecosystems in terms of biodiversity. The area’s pre-Colombian inhabitants used to shelter in paleoburrows (underground cavities excavated by extinct paleo-vertebrate megafauna like the giant ground sloth) whose numerous vestiges are still visible in the geopark. The site moreover features the most impressive canyons in South America, formed by the unique geomorphological processes that the continent underwent during the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent some 180 million years ago.
