Adama Diémé from southern Senegal ambitiously plans to plant up to five million trees within five years. According to BBC, Diémé captured such a visionary endeavor upon returning to his home in the Casamance area last 2020. This was after a few years of working within Europe.
Tree Shortage Observed
BBC notes how 48-year-old Diémé was surprised by how the areas that used to be filled with several hundred huge trees were left with only a few remaining trees. He expressed how a single tree could not be spotted across some villages. Diémé notes how such trees were cut without any plans of replanting.
According to MSN, desertification is an issue in Africa attributed to deforestation. However, in such a place, trees were likely to be cut for reasons related to construction, such as house-building and charcoal-making.
Diémé, a Spanish non-governmental organization worker and agriculture coach, hopes to change this.
A Pursuit to Plant 5 Million Trees Within the Next 5 Years
Though he did not have huge wealth reserves, Diémé started raising money for this visionary project. In fact, Diémé has taken $5,000 from his resources for this initiative.
The project is called Ununukolaal. In their local Jola language, the name means "Our Trees."
Partnership With Women
Diémé has already been continuously working to engage communities from the region and connect with women, whom he thought could take up the challenge of organizing mass seedlings.
He thinks that starting with women is key to leading a good project and that going to a women-filled village is quite a paradise.
Diémé has been hitting two birds with one stone by planting trees and assisting women in gaining agricultural skills. Such women can be small-scale farmers who can sell their harvest at the market.
Safi Yetou, one of the women partners, expressed how they initially did not know how to proceed with seed planting and how to grow the plants. Now, women have a variety of fruits that they can sell, and they do not need to depend on anyone. Each of them also has a bank account. Yetou also expresses how no one can tell her what can or cannot be done and that she finds it brilliant.
As part of the project, around 12 varieties are being sown. These include tamarinds, palms, lemon trees, and kapoks. The specific variety varies based on community needs and terrain.
According to Canada Today, over 142,000 different seedlings have been attended to and taken root in the past three years. While this is not a small number, there is still a remarkable number remaining for Diémé to reach his 5-year goal.
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