Hussain Aga Khan developed a keen interest in conservation at a young age and began scuba diving at 14. He frequently travelled to the tropics after high school and started taking photographs of fauna and flora on a trip to the Brazilian Amazon in 1996.

Through numerous exhibitions, publications and talks, he has created a global platform to raise awareness and inspire and educate audiences to protect the most threatened places and species on our planet. His exhibitions have been held in Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Kenya, Monaco, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. 

He chairs the board of the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, serves on the board of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, and is a member of the Aga Khan Development Network’s Environment and Climate Committee. He is a board member of Mission Blue and of the Shark Conservation Fund,  a member of the Jane Goodall Legacy Foundation’s Council for Hope, and an ambassador for the Natural History Museum, London. 

He has published four books, Animal Voyage (2004), Diving into Wildlife (2015), Fragile Beauty (2022), and The Living Sea (2022), as well as held numerous illustrated talks for diverse audiences.

Focused on Nature (FON) was established by Hussain Aga Khan in 2014 to support global conservation, advocacy and research efforts through financial contributions to conservation organisations, including significant grassroots initiatives.

Exhibitions, public screenings, illustrated talks, books, and limited edition print sales are all used to inspire people to fall in love with nature, encourage them to change their consumption behaviours and motivate them to educate others.

Hussain Aga Khan’s passion for wildlife photography is at the heart of FON, which now holds extensive archives accumulated over nearly three decades from his marine and terrestrial expeditions. The photographs depict hundreds of hours of his most enthralling and surprising encounters with wildlife. 

FON uses the photographic medium to communicate with diverse audiences and to raise awareness around the necessity and urgency to protect fragile and threatened ecosystems around the world.

FON supports global conservation, advocacy, and research efforts through direct financial contributions to some of the world’s leading conservation organisations. FON additionally supports grassroots conservation initiatives for the protection of threatened animal species, leading to immediate and significant impact in these areas. Projects are handpicked and vetted through a process of consultation with FON’s expert and committed advisors.

FON funding is channelled towards the conservation of selected marine species such as cetaceans, sharks and sea turtles, terrestrial species such as African elephants and rhinoceroses, and key ecosystems – especially rainforests.

To date, FON has contributed over USD 4.5 million.

FON’s beneficiaries (Grantees), operate conservation, advocacy and research programmes, initiatives and campaigns in over 32 countries, regions and oceans in the world.