"This is a big worry for us," said Alvaro Masquez Salvador, a lawyer who works with Indigenous Peoples at Peru's Legal Defense Institute.

Masquez also said the change is a bad example because it makes land private that the Peruvian constitution says belongs to the country. He added, "Forests are not private property—they belong to the nation."

Supporters of the change, which became law in March, believe it will make farming in Peru more stable and give farmers clearer legal rights.

The Associated Press asked several people in Peru's farming business for their opinions, including Maria Zeta Chunga, a member of Congress who strongly supports the law. Only one person from the farming business answered, saying they preferred not to say anything.

Peru has the second-biggest part of the Amazon rainforest, after Brazil. This area is over 70 million hectares, which is about 60% of Peru. This region has many different types of plants and animals and is home to more than 50 groups of Indigenous people, some of whom live away from others by choice. These groups are very important for protecting the environment, and the rainforests they protect help to control the world's climate by taking in a lot of carbon dioxide, which is a gas that causes climate change.

The first Forestry and Wildlife Law, from 2011, said you needed government permission and environmental studies to change how forest land was used. But recent changes have made these rules less strict. The newest change lets landowners and companies avoid getting this permission and even makes past cutting down of trees legal.

The court in Peru decided to keep the change to the law after some lawyers questioned it. While the court removed some parts, it kept the final rule that makes past illegal changes to land use legal. Experts believe this part is the most worrying.

In its decision, the court said that Indigenous groups should have been asked about changes to the law and confirmed that the Environment Ministry is responsible for dividing forests into different areas.

Environmental lawyer César Ipenza explained it like this: "The court says the law went against Indigenous rights and that local tribes should have been asked, but it still supports the worst part."

The attempt to reform is similar to what happened in Brazil under the former President Jair Bolsonaro. In Brazil, political and economic groups worked together to make environmental laws weaker to help farming businesses. In Brazil, this was done by a very organized group of large farming businesses. In Peru, the group is less organized but still strong.

In Peru, the people who support this are big farming companies, people who take land illegally, and people involved in illegal mining and selling drugs. Smaller farmers who are worried about keeping their land safe have also joined in.

We are seeing legal and illegal interests coming together, said Vladimir Pinto from Amazon Watch, a group that protects the environment.

Julia Urrunaga, who works for the Environmental Investigation Agency in Peru, stated that the government is incorrectly saying these changes are required to meet new European Union rules. These rules will soon demand that companies importing items such as soy, beef, and palm oil demonstrate that these products did not originate from land where trees were cut down illegally.

She said that if products from illegal tree cutting are later allowed to be sold legally, it will make rules about what people buy, like in the EU, less effective.

This gives a bad sign to markets around the world and makes it harder to stop cutting down forests by controlling trade, Urrunaga said.

Olivier Coupleux, who is in charge of the EU's Economic and Trade Section in Peru, said that the recent changes to the law have nothing to do with the EU's rule about preventing deforestation.

In interviews with Peruvian media, Coupleux said the rule is meant to stop people from buying products that cause forests to be cut down. He explained that it doesn't need new laws, but instead needs a way to follow and make sure products like coffee, cocoa, and wood are made in a way that protects the environment.

Because they have no more legal options in their own country, environmental groups are planning to go to international courts. They say this decision is a dangerous example for other countries that want to ignore environmental laws by claiming they are making reforms.

For many Indigenous leaders, this law is a danger to their lands, people, and culture.

Julio Cusurichi, who is on the board of a group that helps people in the Peruvian rainforest, said this new rule will encourage people to take land illegally and will make it harder to look after the environment in areas that are already at risk.

For a long time, our communities have protected our lands and the planet,