Our Story

LoticLinks Foundation NPC is a public benefit organisation founded by Jonathan Levin,Brishan Kalyan and Blair Cowie and previous memebers Esi Bossman and Hima Rama with the aim of bringing about positive socio-environmental change to communities surrounding river (lotic) ecosystems. The company was initially founded to assist in tackling a complex wicked challenge, being the unknown suitability of the water of many South African river systems.

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The company was initially founded to complete a project titled: The Braamfonteinspruit Socio-Economic Upliftment Project that was funded by a government grant under the ‘Driving Force for Change' pilot youth support initiative led by the Honorable Minister Barbra Creecy, Minister of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE). The resulting river project seeks to provide high temporal river water quality monitoring. Monitoring the water quality will be used to inform members of the public, through the use of large notice boards. In addition, numerous knowledge dissemination and freshwater monitoring citizen science events will be held for the immediate community as well as for high schools.

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Often polluted rivers traverse informal and formal communities, where there is a reliance on the nearby water resources. These communities are often unaware of the suitability of the resource for different purposes (e.g. drinking, cooking and hygiene purposes) which can result in various illnesses. The LoticLinks Foundation team aims to inform the rural and urban communities as to the suitability of the lotic resources (water quality) at a high temporal-monitoring scale (e.g. weekly), while linking various socio-environmental initiatives (e.g. nutrient free soaps and detergents) to alleviate the burden placed on the nearby freshwater ecosystems.

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With Loticlinks Foundation NPC being registered as a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) granted under terms of section10(1)(cN) of the Income Tax Act No. 58 of 1962. The following public benefit activities will be carried out by the Foundation, engaging in the conservation, rehabilitation, or protection of the natural environment and the promotion of, and education and training programmes relating to, environmental awareness, greening, clean-up, or sustainable development projects.

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​​LoticLinks welcomes additional involvement by various industries and individuals to educate and inform communities on Water-Wise management techniques and the realities of the state of river systems in South Africa.