Anthropogenic processes are responsible for between 55% and 70% of the estimated 600 Tg of methane that is released annually into the atmosphere, with enteric fermentation a major contributor to emissions in a number of countries. This paper therefore reviews current levels of CH 4 discharges by both animal type and country, and shows how the growth or decline in national herds over the last 20 years has significantly altered the global composition of enteric emissions. As developing countries are now responsible for almost three-quarters of such emissions, this has important implications in terms of mitigation strategies-particularly as such countries are presently outside the remit of the Kyoto Protocol.

There is a large gap in higher education attainment between different groups of society, especially along gender, class and ethnic dimensions. Reducing these gaps in attainment has been at the forefront of policy makers, not only in this country but also in most advanced economy with policies ranging from financial support to positive discrimination. However, policies can only be effective if the reasons behind these gaps are understood.Several explanations have been suggested to explain these gaps. Economists have focused on market failures and particularly that in the absence of collateral, students from some background may be unable -or unwilling -to finance their education by loan. This suggests that policies of grants should reduce the attainment gap; however evidence of the efficiency of these policies has been mixed.Another reason for not investing in higher education may be a lack of information on the costs and benefits of education. While they are some evidence that individuals from lower social class underestimate the benefit and over-estimate the costs, it is unclear whether this could fully account for the observed gap.This research explores another reason why individuals from specific group do not invest in higher education. We postulate that they may have misbelieves in their own ability and under estimate their chance of success.To test this hypothesis we rely on two datasets. The first is the 2003 PISA which surveyed 15 year old, and administered a comprehensive test in mathematics. Pupils were also asked whether they expected to attend higher education. In this survey, we did not find any evidence that individuals from lower social class are less confident in their mathematical ability.However, we estimate that mathematical efficacy (and to a lower extend, self-evaluation) has a positive effect on the prospect of going to higher education. An increase in one standard deviation in self-efficacy increases the probability of expecting to go to university by ½ the amount of an increase in one standard deviation in test score.The second dataset is based on an online survey of first year students in two British universities. We find that males overestimate their own performance in math and English, as well as their position in the score distribution. Relative to students with the most favourable background, working class students under-estimate their performance in math and white students under-estimate their relative position in both math and English. . The gender and class gaps are especially large in numeracy, at around 20% of the average score.Self-perception also correlates with educational confidence in general but the effect is small.The effect of self-perception on the decision to participate in higher education does not seem to work through its effect on risk aversion and the returns to higher education, because selfperception is only weakly correlated with these factors.Policies that raise academic self-confidence in schools are, unsurprisingly, likely to raise participation rates but are u...

Although the potential for image enhancement has long been considered one of the key motivations for prosocial behavior in conventional offline settings, comparatively little evidence exists as to whether the same assumptions hold for online interactions. Our study addresses this gap in the literature by investigating whether self-presentation leads to variations in prosocial behaviors among contributors to online pro-social crowdfunding campaigns. We present an analysis of data from the Internet crowdfunding platform 'Lendwithcare', which combines the results of a tailored survey with recorded patterns of actual funding activity. By using the presence of a publicly visible lender profile as a proxy for image consciousness, we hypothesize that self-presenting funders will increase levels of visible activity (number of loans made), but will not vary levels of non-visible activity (average monetary value of each loan) relative to other funders. We find empirical evidence that is largely consistent with our hypotheses. Our findings are likely to be of interest to both academics and practitioners seeking to better understand funder motivations and prosocial behaviors in online settings.

Latin American fish production has expanded significantly in recent years. Unfortunately, as management systems in the three major Latin American fish producing countries have not developed at the same pace, all three countries now experience problems of overfishing and industrial overcapitalisation. This article examines the distinctive national fisheries development programmes that have led to this ‘tragedy of the oceans’. By comparing and contrasting the Peruvian, Chilean and Mexican management styles, it offers a critical assessment regarding the likely direction of future Latin American fisheries policy.

This article traces the recent history of Senegalese small-scale fishers' migration in West Africa. It details how migration of Senegalese fishers developed and then intensified to become a specialized fishing strategy spread out all along the coast of West Africa, from Mauritania to Sierra Leone and beyond. This escalation has rapidly led to the depletion of fish stocks in the region. Today, while fishing migration still largely contributes to food security and provision of sustainable livelihood for coastal communities, this type of migration has reached both an ecological and social deadlock and its future is largely uncertain. Based on current trends in Senegalese fishing migration, this paper highlights the main drivers of changes and impacts of migration. It proposes the development of a regional approach to fisheries management, emphasizing the need for collaborative transnational research projects and stressing the necessity for biodiversity project managers to include the issue of fisheries migration in their regional conservation strategies. It also suggests there may be a need to introduce property rights so as to limit the open access enjoyed by Senegalese migrant fishers almost all over the West African sub-region.