How Climate-Vulnerable Countries and Territories Navigate a System Not Built for Them

The stories of CFAN advisors Rowena Tolentino in The Bahamas and Manon Marcadet in French Polynesia inform the uphill fight for climate finance in non-ODA countries and territories.

On the shores of the Caribbean and Pacific, two CFAN Advisors, out of a cohort of twenty globally, are steering their respective countries and regions toward resilience. Rowena Tolentino in The Bahamas and Manon Marcadet in French Polynesia are embedded advisors under the Climate Finance Access Network (CFAN), working directly inside government institutions to help unlock climate finance in places often left behind. Separated by oceans and cultures, The Bahamas and French Polynesia share little in proximity, language, or governance. Yet both find themselves confronting the same paradox: acute climate vulnerability with debilitating barriers that hinder access to critical climate finance.

As Marcadet explains, “Being relentless means never giving up, even when a project fails and has to be reborn. You keep pushing until the door opens.” That relentlessness, combined with Tolentino’s conviction that “resilience must be financed at the scale of the risks we face,” defines how these two advisors are helping their governments reimagine solutions in a global system that often excludes them.

The structural problem: climate vulnerability meets ineligibility

Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) and non-ODA eligible Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face the same existential threats as other SIDS: rising sea levels erode coastlines, cyclones and hurricanes growing stronger, dry spells impacting water availability and food security, and fragile, tourism-dependent economies collapsing after each storm. For example, according to the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB) official assessment, Hurricane Dorian in 2019 wiped out over 25 percent of The Bahamas’ GDP in just two days, underscoring how fast-onset events can devastate entire economies almost overnight. Yet, while the global SIDS and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have secured recognition of their special circumstances under the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) and commitments have been made through global climate finance targets such as the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) agreed in Baku, the ability to efficiently access the necessary funds from external sources, including multilateral sources, remains challenging.

As defined by the OECD DAC list, eligibility rules for most multilateral climate funds are tied to Official Development Assistance (ODA) status. This creates a major barrier for high-income SIDS such as The Bahamas, which are not ODA-eligible and thus excluded from direct access to most multilateral climate finance, despite being amongst the most climate-vulnerable. The ND-GAIN Country Index, which measures vulnerability and readiness to adapt, consistently ranks Caribbean SIDS as highly vulnerable despite their “high-income” classification. This mismatch highlights a growing sore point in international negotiations: tying financing eligibility to development status rather than climate vulnerability is increasingly contested at the UNFCCC and other global forums. For countries like this, their so-called “developed” status disqualifies them from concessional support, leaving them to rely heavily on debt, bilateral aid, or domestic resources.

OCTs face a different but equally restrictive barrier. Because they are not sovereign developing countries and have not achieved ‘statehood’, but are territories of EU and UK member states, they are generally excluded from ODA and, by extension, from most global multilateral funds. Of the 25 OCTs, only three qualify for ODA support under special conditions. The GO Climate Finance Community’s 2024 feasibility study found that OCTs are eligible for less than half of all global climate funds (68 out of 148), with most opportunities linked to bilateral facilities of their administering states rather than global mechanisms. Critically, only nine of these funds explicitly focus on adaptation — despite adaptation being the top priority for OCTs. This mismatch highlights the paradox: OCTs are among the most vulnerable to climate change, yet amongst the least able to access the limited financing available designed to help them adapt.

The Caribbean case: Rowena Tolentino’s work in The Bahamas

The Bahamas illustrates the paradox of high vulnerability but limited access to concessional finance. Hurricane Dorian in September 2019 caused more than US $3.4 billion in loss and damage in a mere 2 days. This is equivalent to over 25% of the country’s GDP, according to the damage and loss assessment of Hurricane Dorian by the Inter‑American Development Bank. Yet, because The Bahamas is classified as a high-income country, it is not ODA-eligible and therefore excluded from many global and bilateral climate funds that use ODA criteria for eligibility. Despite its evident exposure to hurricanes, sea-level rise, and extreme heat, the government must rely on a narrow set of financing mechanisms (such as the GCF, GEF, Adaptation Fund, etc.) to finance climate-resilient initiatives. Strengthening the pipeline of projects and mobilizing these limited resources is therefore an urgent national priority.

In response to this challenge, Rowena Tolentino, CFAN advisor hosted by the Caribbean Development Fund (CDF), has been embedded on a special assignment with the Office of the Prime Minister of The Bahamas. Her role is to work across ministries and with partners to help design projects that reflect national priorities while also meeting the technical and fiduciary requirements of donors.

With public debt in The Bahamas accounting for around 80 percent of GDP, Tolentino advocates for blended finance and debt-for-climate swaps to reduce borrowing costs while unlocking essential investments in adaptation. The flagship initiative is the Race for Resilience (R4R) Program, a US $500 million programmatic effort that bundles five infrastructure packages. These span transport, health, and disaster preparedness, and aim to strengthen inter-island connectivity. By moving away from siloed projects, R4R addresses systemic vulnerabilities and reduces the prolonged isolation that remote islands experience after storms to infrastructure stresses from sea-level rise and other climate extremes.

“Though The Bahamas is high-income, it is a vast archipelago, and the infrastructure and service delivery demands are immense. That reality is not recognized in current finance rules,” Tolentino explains.

Tolentino’s work embodies CFAN’s model of coordination and validation. Every proposal is aligned with the country’s NDC and climate strategies, vetted by relevant line ministries, and endorsed at the country level. She describes this as the challenge of presenting “one national position” to funders, which is a critical step in unlocking both political commitment and financial support.

The Pacific case: Manon Marcadet’s work in French Polynesia

French Polynesia, an archipelago of 118 islands across an ocean area the size of Western Europe, faces rising seas, coral bleaching, and intensifying cyclones. Yet as an OCT, it does not hold ‘statehood’ and therefore is not ODA-eligible. This status excludes it from participation in many UN processes and bars direct access to major multilateral climate funds such as the GCF, AF, and GEF. Instead, French Polynesia can only access bilateral support, widening a major gap between its climate vulnerability and the resources available to respond as the climate crisis worsens.

As a CFAN Advisor, Manon Marcadet is embedded within the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Government of French Polynesia through a partnership with the Pacific Community (SPC). Her mission is to strengthen the government’s capacity to navigate eligibility barriers to external financing and secure financing. She is also one of the 12 CFAN advisors who are currently supporting the mobilization of climate finance to the Pacific region.

Marcadet’s work in French Polynesia embodies the essence of what CFAN was created to achieve, which is bridging global climate finance with local realities. Drawing on her experience with the French Development Agency and her deep connection to small communities, she has become a pivotal force in adapting international financing mechanisms to the complex context of a non-ODA eligible territory. Through relentless creativity and strategic dialogue with donors, she has opened doors for French Polynesia to access funds traditionally out of reach, demonstrating that even small island territories can shape climate finance agendas when guided by persistence and precision.

Beyond securing resources, Marcadet has built the foundations for lasting capacity within government institutions. By advocating for its funding and helping recruit dedicated climate officers for mitigation, adaptation, and finance, she transformed what was once a one-person responsibility into a growing ecosystem of local expertise. Her proactive approach, ensuring that donor strategies align with French Polynesia’s own Climate Plan 2030, reinforces local ownership of the transition to resilience. Marcadet also looked into two innovative regional opportunities. First, by supporting the local Foreign Affairs Department in ensuring French Polynesia would be active and heard as a territory in the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) design process. With a new capitalization and investment returns model, the PRF Treaty has recently been signed by 15 Members of the Pacific Islands Forum and aims to raise US $500 million in 2026 and US $1.5 billion of climate finance for the PIF members by 2030. Second, by facilitating the dialogue between the local Ministry of Environment — currently designing its most ambitious Marine Protected Areas¹ — and new donors, including most recently the Bezos Earth Fund, which offered French Polynesia a US $4 million grant as part of the Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity (UBPP) initiative.

Why their work matters

The efforts of Tolentino and Marcadet highlight how mandate-focused programs such as CFAN can make a difference, even when eligibility rules are stacked against OCTs and non-ODA SIDS. By embedding highly trained advisors directly within government institutions, CFAN enables these countries and territories to navigate the complex landscape of what funds they can access, structure projects to meet demanding requirements, and explore innovative pathways such as regional mechanisms, bilateral partnerships, and blended finance, while also strengthening institutional capacity to participate in the climate architecture.

Survey results from the Green Overseas Climate Finance Community’s feasibility study underscore this point. Among 48 OCT representatives, the top priorities for climate finance were community-based resilience and energy transition, followed closely by capacity building for climate action. These are precisely the areas where CFAN advisors have been providing immediate value, ensuring projects are well-prepared, aligned with donor priorities, and positioned to succeed even within the narrow funding windows available.

Their work demonstrates that although governance status limits eligibility, strategic and targeted expertise can still unlock opportunities. With the right advisors in place, OCTs can move projects forward, negotiate for inclusion, and influence regional finance initiatives. Tolentino and Marcadet show that people and expertise are indispensable complements to financial flows, especially where access is constrained. At the same time, CFAN’s role extends beyond immediate project support. Through its thought leadership, the network is shaping the global discourse on climate finance eligibility. By working within the confines of today’s architecture while advocating for reforms, CFAN is helping to open new pathways for countries and territories in this “grey area” to be recognized and supported in future decision-making.

Moving the agenda forward

The experiences of The Bahamas, as a non-ODA eligible high-income SIDS, and of OCTs such as French Polynesia, show that climate vulnerability does not guarantee access to the necessary forms of climate finance. While the reasons differ (income classification in the case of The Bahamas, political status in the case of OCTs ) the result is the same: constrained eligibility and limited access to multilateral climate funds.

Recognizing this gap, coalitions of island states and territories are already pushing for change. The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) continues to advocate within the UNFCCC for financing arrangements that reflect the unique vulnerabilities of SIDS. Negotiators are advancing discussions under the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) to ensure that climate finance is accessible, predictable, and based on need, not just income. Moreover, the Subnational Island Jurisdictions (SNIJ) group has been calling for OCTs and other non-sovereign islands to be recognized in international processes, so that they too can participate and access support directly. CFAN has been contributing to this dialogue by working alongside AOSIS members to highlight the financing paradox faced by non-ODA SIDS and OCTs. Through its thought leadership and advisor insights, CFAN is helping to frame the case for eligibility reforms, ensuring that the lived realities of vulnerable islands inform future decision-making and open new pathways within the climate finance architecture.

Creating open doors

Climate change does not respect income categories, eligibility status or governance mechanisms. The work of CFAN Advisors such as Tolentino and Marcadet proves that with persistence and dedication, systemic barriers can be removed. As Tolentino notes, “Project development is an iterative process that requires patience, coordination, and revalidation at every step. Without that persistence, nothing moves forward.” Marcadet adds, “If you don’t always look for the tiny detail, the little window that could make a project eligible, then this work becomes impossible. You have to be creative all the time.”  Together, their stories capture the heart of CFAN’s mission. Like currents rising from opposite oceans, their efforts converge on one truth: resilience is built not only with finance, but with people determined to create an open door where none exists.

The authors wish to thank Jale Samuwai, Nnyeka Prescod, and Mahlet Eyassu Melkie for their contributions to this article.

[1] With a maritime area of ​more than 4.5 million km² effectively protected, including 900,000 km² under strict protection and 200,000 km² under strong protection, French Polynesia is positioning itself as a world leader in ocean preservation.