Adama DiéméImage source, Jo Hollis/BBC

Five million trees will be planted by a man in southern Senegalese over the next five years.

After a few years working in Europe, Adama Dimé returned to the Casamance region in 2020 to start this project.

In villages that were populated with hundreds of giant trees in his youth, only a few remain today.

You can't find any trees in some villages. He said that they don't think about planting again after cutting them.

In this area, along the Casamance River, the trees are more likely to have been cut down for construction purposes than for food.

Mr Dimé, who now works as a project manager for a Spanish non-governmental organisation in Casamance, is determined to change that.

He used his own money to kick-start the initiative after he began to raise money for his dream.

To reach out to women, who he knew would be able to rise to the challenge of organizing the mass planting of seeds, he has been working hard.

Female farmers in Casamance, Senegal, holding fruitImage source, Jo Hollis/BBC
Image caption, The women who plant the trees are able to harvest fruits to sell

It's a disaster if you go into a village with no women.

If you go to a village with only women, you will find that they are hard working and work all day long.

If you want to lead a good project, begin with women.

He helped women gain skills to become small-scale farmers and sell their produce at local markets by marrying his passion for planting trees with his desire to help women.

One of the women, Safi Yetou, said that they didn't know how to plant the seeds.

We are able to sell all sorts of fruits and vegetables at the market. All of us have an account in the bank and no one can tell us what to do. It's really good.

Adama Diémé (C) by some tamarind seedlingsImage source, Jo Hollis/BBC
Image caption, Adama Diémé (C), seen here with tamarind seedlings, says each community decides which trees to plant

In the local language Jola, Mr. Dimé's project is known as Ununukolaal.

The variety of trees being planted depends on the needs of the community and the terrain.

More than 142,000 plants have taken root over the last three years.

If Mr Dimé is to reach his goal within the next five years, he and his partner are not going to be discouraged.

Ms Pereiguez, who works as a tailor, has helped organize funds by designing a T-shirt that is mostly sold abroad for fifteen dollars.

Along with her colleague Raymonde Coly, they work in a tiny workshop with two sewing machines to make them from local cloth. The 15 tree seedlings will be paid for by each sale.

The baobab is the symbol of an African tree according to Ms Periniguiz. It's great to know that these T-shirts are going all over the world to help with the tree project.

The true value of the project was brought into focus when we went further into Casamance by dug-out canoe.

On a small village island in the middle of the river, water flowed right up to the outlying buildings and even underneath some of them.

Water seen beneath houses on an island on the Casamance River in SenegalImage source, Jo Hollis/BBC
Image caption, Water is now lapping beneath houses on this island in the Casamance River

At the height of the rainy season, the water's edge was much closer to the village than it is today.

If it gets worse, it could mean leaving residents homeless.

Conakry Bassene, one of the village leaders, said that if the water came much further, they would have to leave the island.

Along the shoreline, boabab trees have been planted as a barrier. The trees flap in the breeze with the promise of a day of fruit and shade.

Mr Bassene said that the trees could save them.

They are our hope for life.