Humans have become accustomed to exploiting the Earth's resources in a manner that is not only unsustainable, but also blatantly unjust, stated Bulgaria's president-elect Rosen Plevneliev.

"Some 7 B people inhabit the Earth now. That makes only 0.01% of living creatures on Earth - but we nonetheless consume 99.99% of the planet's resources," said Plevneliev at Bulgaria's 2011 Greenest Cities awards Tuesday.

"This is not fair!" exclaimed the erswhile successful construction businessman, who served as Bulgaria's Minister of Regional development before deciding to run as ruling center-right GERB party's candidate for presidential elections end of October.

"The future generations will not only pay for our ways. They in turn will want to excessively consume like us. So we need a total change of our mindset," argued Plevneliev.

"We have to understand that the sustainable development of our planet is a total priority for everyone - and that it is not only a matter of human self-interest, but a matter of justice," added he.

Plevneliev, who is set to start his 5-year term as Bulgaria's president end of January 2012, said that Bulgarian in particular need to lear a lot in that respect.

In the 2011 Greenest Cities awards, Burgas took the prize for cities over pop. 200,000, while Stara Zagora, Haskovo, Velingrad, Lyaskovets and Pavel Banya won the prizes for the smaller population categories.