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Hundreds of homes were evacuated in the worst hit areas in the Borders, with the torrential rain causing travel chaos throughout the weekend.

It comes as a major clean-up gets under way across Scotland after widespread flooding caused by Storm Desmond.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s “climate justice fund” will double over the next four years to £12million.

The extra cash comes on top of SNP ministers’ separate £9million international aid budget and follows repeated complaints about cuts from Westminster.

The Scottish Government has already poured millions into African countries dealing with climate change. Schemes include those helping Malawi and Zambia cope with extreme weather such as droughts and floods.

The government should rethink its commitment to arbitrary spending targets and do more to protect taxpayers

Scots families already pay their share of the UK’s foreign aid bill and critics have called the latest pledge “absurd”. But Ms Sturgeon said it was a “massive injustice” that developing countries faced the worst consequences from wealthier nations’ pollution.

She said: “We know that the most vulnerable are worst affected by climate change: the very young, the very old, the ill, and the very poor.

“Women are suffering disproportionately, since they are often the main providers of food, fuel and water.

“So, the people who have done least to cause climate change, and are least equipped to cope with its consequences, are the people being hit hardest. The scale of the injustice is massive.

“Now, the first and most important priority in tackling this injustice has to be to address climate change itself.” The First Minister will make the announcement at the UN Paris Climate Change Conference.

Ministers initially pledged £3million but over the last five years 11 schemes in Africa have seen a £6million investment. Other projects include improving access to safe water.

In 2005-6, the then Labour/Lib Dem Scottish Executive pledged to spend £3million on international development. But this has tripled under the SNP – and comes on top of the UK’s multi-billion-pound aid budget.

Chancellor George Osborne has announced foreign aid will soar by more than a fifth to £16.3billion a year by 2020.

Last week David Cameron asked wealthy nations to give more to halt climate change, ahead of the Paris talks.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Budgets at home are facing necessary reductions so it’s absurd that spending on overseas aid continues to rocket.

“What’s more, not enough is done to ensure projects deliver value for taxpayers’ money.

“The government should rethink its commitment to arbitrary spending targets and do more to protect taxpayers.”

But the donation was welcomed by charities, including Oxfam Scotland, who said it showed “crucial leadership”.

Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund director Alistair Dutton said: “Climate change is devastating the lives of millions of people in poor countries.

“Increasingly, unpredictable weather means that families who grow their own food no longer know when to plant.

“More frequent and severe flash floods and droughts also wipe out their harvests, leaving already extremely poor families hungry and even poorer.”