Over the years, record-breaking global temperatures and the persistent occurrence of Earth Overshoot Day in mid-summer underscore the urgent need to accelerate effective climate adaptation. Since the 2000s, with the rise of international climate-adaptation frameworks, climate adaptation has often been framed as a predominantly vertical and top-down process driven by national-level directives. Yet, climate adaptation is a complex and systematic process that requires coordination across all administrative levels, actors, and sectors, as well as innovative ways of “thinking, doing, organising” beyond the traditional practices. A purely top-down framing, therefore, overlooks the fact that many significant adaptation practices emerge locally and are not easily integrated into national frameworks.