Helping to differentiate adaptation from mitigation during this period was a focus on theoretical principles and a framing of adaptation as local and context specific, in contrast to mitigation's global character , leading to locally oriented adaptation research and practice, including the rise of community-based adaptation . Since AR5, however, adaptation has extended beyond the local, recognising the 'borderless' character of many climate change risks and vulnerabilities  and framing adaptation and global adaptation governance as a global public good . Encompassing this expanded scale is challenging for adaptation research compared to treating adaptation as a local issue, which fits more easily with social research methods. Adaptation now works across scales  and attends simultaneously to both the opportunities and risks arising from climate change . This suggests that empirical adaptation research should incorporate multi-scalar research designs and methods.
IPCC
Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability
IPCC Report