Overview of African naked mole-rat Heterocephalus glaber for bioprospecting, and access and benefit sharing in Ethiopia

Biodiversity in developing countries such as Ethiopia has been accessed for a long time, for various purposes, by outside researchers and private companies with little or no returns to conservation activities and with no equitable sharing of the benefits resulting from the commercial use of genetic resources. Ethiopia now aims to conserve, sustainably use and share the benefits from bioprospecting of its richer biodiversity by developing legislations which practically put in place the contents of basic principles of the international treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol. Bioprospecting of potentially valuable genetic resources from the country’s biodiversity-rich regions can bring monetary and non-monetary benefits from users, bioprospectors and investors. This review also aims to have an overview of the really bizarre looking, little explored and economically important rodent animal, the East African naked mole-rat, Heterocephalus glaber, from the Horn of Africa, for Bioprospecting and Access and Benefit Sharing in Ethiopia. It reveals that this animal has lots of peculiar morphological, physiological, ecological and environmental adaptations, which attract the attention of outside researchers to conduct analgesic, anti-cancer and anti-aging and various other innovative scientific researches, or invite bioprospectors to undergo medicinal, pharmaceutical and industrial bioprospecting on the animal genetic resource. However, any research and development studies related with animal bioprospecting in Ethiopia should be complemented by the conservation, sustainable utilization of biodiversity, and the access and benefit sharing of this animal genetic resource.