Liu claims that the decline in these factors has led to higher temperatures and loss of arable soil, in the end leading to desertification.

[3] The episode, Regreening the desert / Green gold of the show Tegenlicht, was aired by Dutch public broadcaster VPRO and co-produced by Liu.

The episodes sees Liu traveling the world to countries as Jordan, China and Ethiopia and shows the possibilities in re-greening areas turning into desert.

[5][6] Since 2009, Liu is working together with Willem Ferwerda, former director of the Dutch office of IUCN, executive fellow business and ecosystems at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, and founder of the Commonland Foundation an organization that works on large scale landscape restoration projects with a business approach, based on the 4 returns from landscape restoration framework developed by Ferwerda.

He also was an associate professor at the George Mason University as a part of the Center for Climate and Society, and a senior research fellow at the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Liu has written for publications all over the world on a variety of topics, but he most consistently writes on the potential for the restoration of large-scale damaged ecosystems.

Hope was entered into United States: Best in Category: Ecosystem award in the prestigious International Wildlife Film Festival in Montana.

[10] In addition to Princess Talal and the Lawtons' thoughts (and projects), the documentary also features more of Liu's reflections on the regions he has visited.