In the wake of a global bee crisis where numbers of honeybee and native species fell dramatically, protecting these essential pollinators was at the forefront of apiarists, amateur beekeepers and governments' minds.

ACT Beekeepers president Cormac Farrell said the collapse of colonies were felt most acutely in Europe where about seven billion bees died.

Australia had experienced a drop in bee numbers during the past five years, but not to the severe extent experienced abroad.

Pesticides, particularly Neonicotinoids, and disease were blamed for the global losses however Mr Farrell said strict quarantine protocols had sheltered Australia from damaging diseases.

His group help to manage sentinel hives near Canberra Airport and check them regularly to monitor changes - a sort of early warning system for any foreign diseases entering the ACT that could harm bees.

Increased use of systemic pesticides such as neonicotinoids and diminishing garden space as the city grew were two threats felt locally, he said.

"There is a little warning label down the bottom that says it is dangerous to bees but I don't think it is explained to people once they are sprayed in your garden or a plant it stays for between three to seven years," he said.

"You are making relatively permanent change to the toxicity of your garden."

But proactive steps to intervene have been working.

Wanniassa Hills Primary School year 3 and 4 students have handcrafted a bee BnB which will soon take pride of place in the school's kitchen garden.

Students hammered together the structure and foraged for bamboo and other woods to create a new habitat for native bees.

Nine year old Luke Connors imagined construction of a bee hotel would be hard but he found it fun to pick up a hammer and help.

"It was really fun and easy," he said. "The little holes is where the bees make their homes. They help flowers and the food grow."

Mr Farrell said membership to ACT Beekeepers had increased by 200 in the past 18 months and with support from the ACT government hundreds each year were taking part in beekeepers for the suburbs training sessions at Jerrabomberra Wetlands.

This has been supported by an estimated 500 to 700 urban beekeepers and careful civic planting choices by the ACT government to include more flowering species.

"People like having better more productive fruit and vegetable gardens," he said. "But with the advent of more bee hotels and hives it increases the overall population and by spreading more bees across more landscape reduces the risk we could have a big population crash."

The federal government has provided $7 million over five years to a new Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) led by The University of Western Australia.

It will provide a much-needed boost to Australia's valuable, but largely untapped honey bee products, by bringing together both industry and academic expertise from across Australia.