Uganda's shea nut trees under threat as charcoal favoured instead of beauty creams

One man's struggle to save Uganda's once-profitable trees that produce shea butter.

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Mustafa Gerima wants local communities to stop chopping down the trees to make charcoal - which they say is more profitable than the oil, also used in cooking, that is extracted from its fruit.

He gave up teaching to dedicate himself to the trees when he returned home six years ago and was shocked to find the Mount Kei Central Forest Reserve, once lush with wild shea trees, had been turned into a near-barren expanse dotted with stumps.

Now nicknamed "Bwana Shea" or Mr Shea, he walks from village to village in the north-west of the country rallying people to protect what he sees as a vanishing treasure.

Local people, he said, had lost interest in the trees and began chopping them down as farmers were experiencing failed harvests.