With the help of the local population, Haidar el Ali has led a program that has planted 152 million mangrove buds in the Casamance Delta of southern Senegal over the past decade.

The reforestation project in southern Senegal has become one of the largest of its kind in the world.

Mr el Ali, who served as Senegal's Minister of Environment, says the mangroves are vital to help cope with the effects of climate change, as well as contributing to the local economy.

Video journalists: Nick Loomis and Louise Dewast