The World Bank's Board of Executive Directors on Tuesday approved 100 million U.S. dollar loan to China's Yangtze River and Pearl River Watershed Rehabilitation Project, the bank said on Wednesday,

With a grant of 10 million euros from the European Union, the project will help China tackle severe erosion problems and improve farmers' livelihoods along the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and Pearl River, by modeling an integrated approach to watershed planning and management, the band said.

The project will finance the construction of "stone-faced" terraces and sediment retention structures, afforestation and restoration of vegetation, and village infrastructure, the bank said in a statement.

It will also seek to improve the income of farmers through terracing of slope land, horticulture and fruit and nut trees, grasslands, livestock development, irrigation and drainage and renewable energy supply.

Built on the bank's successful experience in watershed management, mostly notably the Loess Plateau Project in China, the project is expected to benefit poor farmers in 37 counties of eight prefectures or cities in Chongqing Municipality, and Guizhou and Yunnan provinces in southwest China, and Hubei Province in central China, the bank said.

Source: Xinhua