In recent years, there has been a proliferation of cross-national surveys measuring public attitudes about climate change impacts and solutions around the world. However, these surveys rarely include the small-island states and territories that represent some of the world’s most climate-exposed populations yet bear virtually no responsibility for climate change. A crucial question facing these countries concerns the financing and management of adaptation projects. We report results from a large-sample, quota-matched survey (N=20,026) fielded in 56 small-island states and territories. Overall, we find widespread awareness and concern about the threat posed by climate change and sea-level rise, but wide variation in attributions of responsibility for climate adaptation. Surprisingly, we find significant demand for foreign oversight of local adaptation projects—a finding that diverges from the literature on foreign aid, which suggests that recipient-country publics are skeptical of influence from international organizations and foreign governments. Yet, preferences for oversight and management of climate-related aid might differ, in part due to the asymmetric distribution of responsibility or causing climate change. We use a series of experiments to examine public preferences over the management of local adaptation programs and assess whether preferences are distinct for climate adaptation projects as compared with traditional aid projects.