The Green Party has launched a nationwide petition calling for the use of pesticides implicated in bee deaths overseas to be suspended.
The party says neonicotinoid pesticides, which affect bees' central nervous systems, need to be urgently reassessed by the Environmental Risk Management Authority.
Green MP Sue Kedgley says her party wants the pesticides suspended in the meantime.
"They're widely used in New Zealand," Ms Kedgley says, "and we think we should suspend the outdoor use of them, particularly on crops that bees are attracted to."
The party is calling on the Government to develop a "healthy bees strategy" incorporating such ideas as bee-friendly habitats and annual bee population surveys - something it says the Beekeepers Association is looking into.