Palm oil 'decimating' wildlife, solutions elusive, report says

PARIS - Palm oil production has "decimated" animal and plant life in Malaysia and Indonesia and threatens pristine forests in Central Africa and South America, a leading international conservation group warned on Tuesday.

Habitat loss due to expanding plantations has pushed some of the most iconic species - including orangutans, tigers and some gibbons - to the brink of extinction, the International Union for the Conservation for Nature, or IUCN, said in a report.

A certification system designed to ensure sustainability is "far from fulfilling its potential", it said.