Soil erosion is the relocation of surface material and takes place in three steps: removal, transport and sedimentation. SEDER researches processes and mechanisms, factors and rates and develop knowledge to understand, foresee and control soil erosion.

SEDER is focussed on the effects of land use and management on soil erosion in order to develop strategies to reduce soil losses on degraded land. SEDER focuses on the erosion and runoff generation after forestland with special attention to forest fires affected-land and trail erosion, on agriculture land and on road and railway embankments.

Assessment, restoration and rehabilitation are the SEDER challenge. There is a need to restore the soil properties and functions, and for this we need to find the right managements to avoid non-sustainable soil erosion rates. SEDER initiated his experience in 2002 with Artemi Cerdà as main researcher. The number of publications of the research team reach more than 300 publications in international (peer-review) journals and books an the research is mainly focus on Mediterranean types ecosystems, but research in other Ecosystems is carried out in collaboration with research groups in Ethiopia, Iran, China, USA, The Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Bosnia-Herzegovina or Romania.