Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), the national ICT solutions provider and a responsible corporate citizen, adjudged as being amongst the top ten corporate citizens in Sri Lanka, launched its much awaited calendar and complimentary items for the year 2015 under the theme “Corals of Sri Lanka”.This follows the arts, culture and environmental/biological diversity themes which have been brought to life on an annual basis since 2003.


The main aim of this year’s calendar and complimentary items project, conducted under the company’s ongoing CSR initiative “preserving heritage for tomorrow” is to raise awareness amongst the public about the importance of coral reefs to Sri Lanka which goes far beyond beauty and aesthetics, to ensuring a balanced ecosystem, preventing coastal erosion and even to the extent of providing important medicinal compounds.


One of the other most important aspects of coral reefs is also contributing to food security. Thus, ensuring the continuity of these species for the wellbeing of future generations is crucial.

Coral reefs are one of the most biologically rich and economically valuable ecosystems found on earth, and habitation to thousands of different species where a single reef can be inhabited by over 3000 different species. In Sri Lanka, coral reefs are valuable resources especially for coastal communities where fishing has been one of the main forms of livelihood for years. Thus, coral reefs also support industries such as fisheries as well as tourism.

Apart from this, coral reefs also support thousands of other organisms that both live and feed on the reefs, some of which possess medicinally important compounds. Furthermore, coral reefs help to confront natural disasters such as tsunamis. This was researched and proven to be true after the Tsunami of 2004, where studies showed that areas where the coral reefs were damaged experienced much higher waves and greater damage inland than areas where the coral reefs were intact.

Commenting on this, Group CEO of SLT, Lalith de Silva said, “The main goal of SLT’s “preserving heritage for tomorrow” initiative is to educate the public about the importance of protecting and preserving the rich cultural as well as biological heritage that Sri Lanka has been endowed with, to ensure that it is preserved for the future generations.

“We strongly advocate the need for corporates and organizations to lead the way in taking the initiative to support and foster such programs. Over a period of time, SLT calendar and complimentary items have become well known and cherished pieces of art as well as items that provide rich educational value”.

These themes are selected after much research and study into the subject areas and calendars are produced with the help of key resource persons in the related fields that ensure credibility of the information provided by these calendars. This is yet another CSR project of SLT through which the company seeks to align with and contribute towards sustainability of local industries as well as environment protection.