A recent change to Peru's law about forests and wildlife is causing strong protests from environmental and Indigenous groups. They warn that this change could make deforestation happen faster in the Amazon rainforest, even though it is presented as a way to help the economy grow.

The new rule means landowners or companies don't need the state's permission to change forests into other types of land. People who are against it say this change could make years of cutting down trees illegally seem okay.

This is very worrying for us, said Alvaro Masquez Salvador, a lawyer who helps Indigenous people in Peru.

Masquez also said the changes are a problem because they make land private that, according to Peru's constitution, belongs to the country. He added that forests are not private property and belong to the nation.

People who support the new law, which started in March, believe it will make farming in Peru stronger and give farmers more legal safety.

The Associated Press asked several people in Peru's farming business and politician Maria Zeta Chunga, who strongly supported the law, for their comments. Only one person from the farming business answered, saying they did not want to comment.

Peru has the second-largest part of the Amazon rainforest after Brazil.

The first law about forests and wildlife, made in 2011, said you needed the state's permission and environmental studies before changing how forest land was used. But recent changes have made these rules weaker. The newest change lets landowners and companies avoid getting that permission, and it even makes past tree cutting legal.

Peru's Constitutional Court said the change was okay after some lawyers questioned it. The court removed some parts of the change, but kept the last part, which makes past illegal land use changes legal. Experts say this is the most dangerous part.

In its decision, the court said that Indigenous groups should have been asked about changes to the law. It also confirmed that the Environment Ministry is in charge of deciding how forests are used.

Environmental lawyer César Ipenza said it this way: "The court accepts that the law went against Indigenous rights and that tribes should have been asked, but it still approves the most damaging part."

The reasons for this change are similar to what happened in Brazil under President Jair Bolsonaro. In Brazil, politics and businesses worked together to reduce environmental laws to help large farms. Brazil's change was strongly supported by big farming companies, but in Peru, the groups supporting the change are not as organized, but they are still powerful.

In Peru, this is supported by groups like big farming companies, people who take land illegally, and those connected to illegal mining and drug dealing. Smaller farmers who worry about protecting their land have also become involved.

We are seeing legal and illegal activities happening together, said Vladimir Pinto, who works for Amazon Watch in Peru.

Julia Urrunaga, who is the Peru director for the non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency, said that the Peruvian government is "wrongly claiming" that the changes are needed to follow the European Union's rules. These rules will soon require companies that import products like soy, beef, and palm oil to prove that these goods did not come from land where trees were cut down illegally.

She said that if products from illegal tree cutting are later made legal and sold, it will make rules about buying less effective, like the ones in the EU.

This sends a bad message to global markets and makes it harder to stop cutting down trees by controlling trade, Urrunaga said.

Olivier Coupleux, who is in charge of the EU's Economic and Trade Section in Peru, said that recent changes to the law are not related to the EU's rule about deforestation.

In interviews with Peruvian newspapers, Coupleux said the rule is meant to stop people from buying products that cause deforestation. He explained that it doesn't need new laws, but instead requires tracking where products like coffee, cocoa, and wood come from and making sure they are produced in a sustainable way.

Because they have no more legal options in their own country, civil society groups plan to take the case to international courts. They say this decision is a bad example for other countries that want to ignore environmental laws by calling it 'reform'.

Many leaders of Indigenous groups think the law is a big danger to their lands, communities, and traditions.

Julio Cusurichi, who is on the board of a group that helps people in the Peruvian rainforest, said the new rule would make it easier for people to take land illegally and make it harder to look after the environment in areas that are already in danger.

Cusurichi said, "For a long time, our communities have protected both our lands and the planet."