Supply and value chains from the trade in ivory and rhinoceros horn
https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/wildlife/2020/WWLC20_Chapter_8_Value_chains.pdf


Little is known about the profits made by organized crime groups from illicit wildlife trafficking and the significant gaps in understanding supply and demand for certain wildlife products make such estimates challenging. Existing estimates that monetize the size of wildlife trafficking and crime are highly aggregated and utilize broad frameworks that include envi- ronmental costs and loss of public revenues. These aggregates are useful for advocacy purposes but have lim- ited usefulness for understanding how wildlife traffickers operate and for monitoring and evaluating progress made in containing the illicit profits and financial flows generated by the illegal wildlife trade.