A new change to Peru's law about forests and nature is making environmental and Indigenous groups very angry. They say it could make cutting down trees in the Amazon happen faster. They think it is pretending to help the economy.

This new rule means people don't need to ask the state before changing forest land for other uses. Some people are afraid this might make past illegal tree cutting seem okay.

"For us, this is very worrying," said Alvaro Masquez Salvador. He works as a lawyer and helps the native people in Peru.

Masquez said the change is bad because it lets people own land that the country's laws say belongs to everyone. He said, "Forests are not private property—they belong to the nation."

People who support the change, which started in March, say it will help farming in Peru stay strong and give farmers clearer rules.

The Associated Press asked many people in Peru's farming business and a politician, Maria Zeta Chunga, who really liked the law. Only one person from the farming business answered. They said they did not want to talk about it.

Peru has a lot of the Amazon rainforest, second only to Brazil. This forest covers more than 70 million hectares, which is about 60% of Peru's land. It is a very important place because many different kinds of plants and animals live there. More than 50 groups of Indigenous people also live there, and some live away from other people. These people are important for protecting the forests. The forests help the world by taking in a lot of carbon dioxide, a gas that causes climate change.

A law from 2011 said you needed government permission and studies to change forest land use, but new changes have made this rule weaker. Now, people can change forest land use without permission, and even make past changes legal.

In Peru, a court said a change to the law was okay after some lawyers asked the court to look at it. The court said some parts of the change were not okay, but they kept the last part. This last part means that some things people did with land in the past that were against the rules are now okay. Some people who know a lot about laws say this is the worst part.

The court said that the government should have asked the local people before changing the law. They also said that the Ministry of the Environment has an important job in deciding where forests should be.

Environmental lawyer César Ipenza said: "The court agrees the law was unfair to local people and they should have been asked, but it still allows the worst part."

This change is similar to what happened in Brazil when Jair Bolsonaro was president. In Brazil, politicians and businesses worked together to make environmental rules less strict to help farming companies. The farming companies in Brazil were very organized. In Peru, the groups working together are not as organized, but they are still strong.

In Peru, the people who support this are from large farms, people who take land, and people linked to illegal mining and selling drugs. Also, small and medium farmers who are worried about protecting their land have joined.

Vladimir Pinto from Amazon Watch, a group that protects nature, said that legal and illegal groups are starting to work together.

Julia Urrunaga from the Environmental Investigation Agency said that the government in Peru is saying they need to make changes to follow new rules from Europe. Soon, companies that buy things like soy and beef will have to show that these products did not come from land where trees were cut down illegally.

She said if products from illegal logging become legal and can be sold, it will make rules like the EU's less strong.

Urrunaga said this is a bad sign for markets everywhere and makes it harder to stop cutting down trees by controlling trade.

Olivier Coupleux, who works for the EU in Peru, said that new laws in Peru are not connected to the EU's rules about not destroying forests.

Coupleux spoke to the news in Peru. He said the new rule is to stop people from buying things that cause forests to be cut down. He also said we don't need new laws. We just need to know where products like coffee, cocoa, and wood come from and make sure they are grown in a good way for the planet.

Because they cannot use their country's courts anymore, groups are planning to go to international courts. They say this decision is bad because it could help other countries avoid environmental laws by saying they are making changes.

For many Indigenous leaders, the law is a big danger to their land, homes, and how they live.

Julio Cusurichi said the new rule will make it easier for people to take land that is not theirs and make it harder to protect nature in places that are already in danger.

Cusurichi said that their communities have always protected their lands and the planet.