LUSAKA, May 17 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank has approved about 100 million U.S. dollars credit for Zambia aimed at helping the southern African nation improve its natural resource management, a release from the local office of the World Bank said on Friday.

The statement said the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved the funding on Wednesday for the Transforming Landscapes for Resilience and Development (TRALARD) project.

The project will support sustainable use of natural resources for livelihoods, and help the government respond adequately and timely to a crisis or emergency.

The project, which will target 16 districts in three of the country's 10 provinces, will benefit about 562,800 people, with 50 percent of beneficiaries being female-headed households, it added.

"The TRALARD project is very important for Zambia because its activities were designed with a view to reversing forest and land degradation and improving infrastructure to enhance the resilience of communities to climatic shocks," Ina Ruthenberg, World Bank country manager for Zambia said in the statement.

She said most of the beneficiaries reside in areas prone to climate change impacts.

Iretomiwa Olatunji, World Bank task team leader for the project, said the current impact of natural resource degradation on Zambia's economy and livelihoods of its people was costing about 0.4 percent of annual economic growth and was projected to increase.

"We hope that the project play an integral part in Zambia's effort to respond to climate change and to improve management of natural resources through donor supported efforts," he said.

The TRALARD project was aligned with the World Bank's twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.