A new video campaign has been launched by Global Witness today, aimed at pressuring on global banking giant HSBC for dealing with logging companies operating in Sarawak's forests.

The "mockumentary-style" four-minute video stars British entertainer William Edgar Oddie who narrates how HSBC - against its own policies - is funding companies flouting international forestry standards.

NONE The basis for the video is research conducted by international human rights NGO Global Witness, who had last year launched a report condemning HSBC for bankrolling seven logging companies in Sarawak.

According to a Global Witness spokesperson, HSBC's policy requires its forestry clients to have up to 70 percent of their operations certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) - a non-profit international body that performs independent certification for logging and forest products - or an equivalent standard by 2009.

"There is not a single FSC or equivalent certification in Sarawak, which we and (many) others regard as a 100 percent compliance failure," said the spokesperson.

The spokesperson added that some of the companies bankrolled by HSBC in Sarawak are also allegedly involved in human rights abuses, logging in proposed national parks, logging of threatened species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and destroying globally significant peat domes that allegedly emitted vast amounts of greenhouse gasses.

The matter was investigated by The Economist in November last year. Following this, HSBC told the magazine that Global Witness' claims were "not accurate" and that 99 percent of its forest-sector clients worldwide are "compliant" or "near-compliant" with its policy.

However, it is noted that HSBC's definition of "near-compliant" is unclear.

The bank added that it will stop working with companies which "do not make credible progress towards compliance within a given time frame", though in some cases, "we are obliged to wait until a loan facility expires".

For Global Witness, such an approach will not do and they are urging people around the world to sign a petition to HSBC chief executive officer Stuart Gulliver for profiteering from companies clearing the jungles of Borneo.

The deadline for the petition is May 24, when HSBC will be holding its annual general meeting in London.