The Department of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing (DRSRS) formerly known as Kenya Rangeland Ecological Monitoring Unit (KREMU) was established in 1976 with funding from the Government of Kenya and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
The unit was under the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife with the main aim of monitoring the condition and trend of Kenya rangelands through livestock, wildlife and vegetation surveys using remote sensing, aerial surveys and ground sampling techniques
Over time the scope of the unit expanded. In 1982 the Government of Kenya and the World Bank funded land use/cover mapping progamme in the high potential areas and the French Government funded forest cover mapping using SPOT satellite.
The World Bank continued supporting the Department through Agricultural Sector Management Programme (ASMP) until 1998. All the activities are today funded by the Government of Kenya.
