A conference at the Namadgi Visitors Centre yesterday discussed the potential impact on the local environment and agriculture, and lobbied the ACT Government to provide $200,000 to fund research into the pests.

Little is known about the wasps because of their relatively recent introduction into the Australian ecosystem.

The president of the National Parks Association of the ACT, Christine Goonrey, said they needed to be eliminated altogether.

''They're the cane toads of the insect world,'' she said.

A bait called Fibromil has been effective in parts of New Zealand, however, obtaining a licence to use it in the ACT may take up to six months which Mrs Goonrey described as ''frustrating''.

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said his Government was aware of the mounting problem, and was ''open to considering the funding of the NPA research project within the budgetary context''.

The dramatic increase in wasp numbers is due to unusually warm and dry winters since 2006, which helps the wasps survive during the winter when populations are usually decimated by the cold.

Mrs Goonrey described the wasps' activity as a ''social takeover of the territory'', emphasising that they posed a real threat to local fauna and flora.

''They rely on insects to survive,'' she said. ''They're extremely aggressive, and they eliminate competition from other insects.''

In the alpine regions of the park, native plants and animals rely on insects for food and pollination. Without any natural predators, the wasps are capable of destroying a vital link in the alpine food chain.

Philip Stradbery, of the European Wasp Awareness and Insect Identification Hotline, who was a key speaker at the conference, said, ''Any plant that requires insect pollination can be adversely affected.''

He estimated the wasp colonies could produce up to 16,000 queens in a single breeding season about eight times their normal rate of productivity in Europe.

Unless every single queen was wiped out, the wasps would return in greater numbers each year.

The conference decided the first step was for community groups to work together to locate and report nests, and organisations such as the Canberra Bushwalkers Club pledged their support.

Mrs Goonrey urged bushwalkers to be aware of the danger presented by wasp swarms, and if a nest was discovered, to report its position to Canberra Connect on 13281, which can direct calls to the National Parks Association.