A man in southern Senegal has set himself the ambitious task of planting five million trees over the next five years.
This visionary project came to Adama Diémé when he returned home to the Casamance region in 2020 after a few years working in Europe.
The 48-year-old was shocked that in villages that were populated with hundreds of gigantic trees in his youth, only a handful, if any, now remained.
Across Africa desertification is one of the reasons blamed for deforestation but, in this area, along the sweeping expanse of the Casamance River, the trees are more likely to have been cut down for construction purposes like building houses, or making charcoal.
Diémé, who now works as a project manager for a Spanish non-governmental organization in Casamance and also volunteers as an agricultural trainer, is determined to change all that.
“You go into a village and there are no women, it’s a disaster,” Diémé said.
“But if you go to a village with only women, it’s paradise – they are hardworking and work all day every day.
“If you want to lead a good project start with women,” Diémé added.
What he has done is couple his passion to plant trees by helping women gain skills to become small-scale farmers and sell their produce at local markets.