A recent change to Peru's law about forests and wildlife is making environmental and Indigenous groups very angry. They warn that it could speed up the cutting down of trees in the Amazon rainforest, saying it is for economic development.

The new rule means landowners and companies don't need state permission to change forests into other land. Some people worry this could make past illegal tree cutting seem okay.

"For us, this is very worrying," said Alvaro Masquez Salvador, a lawyer who works with the program for Indigenous Peoples at Peru's Legal Defense Institute.

Masquez also said the change creates a worrying example because it lets private companies own land that the country's constitution says belongs to the nation. He added, "Forests are not private property—they belong to the nation."

People who support the change, which started in March, say it will make farming in Peru more stable and help farmers feel more sure about the rules.

The Associated Press asked several people from Peru's farming industry and Congresswoman Maria Zeta Chunga, who strongly supports the law, for their opinions. Only one person from the farming industry answered, saying they did not want to comment.

Peru has the second biggest part of the Amazon rainforest after Brazil. It has more than 70 million hectares, which is about 60% of Peru. This area is full of many different kinds of plants and animals, and more than 50 groups of Indigenous people live there. Some of these groups live completely separately from others. These communities are very important for protecting nature and the forests they look after help the world's climate stay stable by taking in a lot of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a gas that causes climate change.

The first law about forests and wildlife in 2011 said you needed the government's permission and environmental reports before changing how forest land was used. But recent changes have made these rules less strong. The newest change lets landowners avoid getting permission and even makes cutting down trees that happened before legal.

Peru's main court agreed with the change after some lawyers said it wasn't constitutional. The court removed some parts of the change but kept the last part, which makes past illegal land use changes legal. Experts think 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 said the Environment Ministry is responsible for deciding how forests are used.

Environmental lawyer César Ipenza explained it this way: "The court agrees the law broke Indigenous rights and that the tribes should have been consulted, but it still approves the most harmful part."

The push for this change is similar to what happened in Brazil under former President Jair Bolsonaro. There, political and business groups worked together to weaken environmental rules to help farming businesses. In Brazil, this was led by a very organized group of large farming companies. But in Peru, the group pushing for change is not as organized, though it is still powerful.

In Peru, the people who support this come from big farms, people who take land illegally, and people involved in illegal mining and selling drugs. Also, smaller farmers who worry about keeping their land have been included.

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

Julia Urrunaga, who works for the Environmental Investigation Agency in Peru, said the Peruvian government is wrongly claiming the changes are needed to follow European Union rules. These rules will soon make companies that import products like soy, beef, and palm oil show that their goods did not come from land where trees were cut down illegally.

She said that if products from illegal deforestation are later made legal and can be sold, it will make rules about what people can buy, like in the EU, less strong.

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

Olivier Coupleux, who leads the EU's Economic and Trade Section in Peru, said that recent changes to the law are not connected to the EU's rule on stopping deforestation.

In interviews with Peruvian media, Coupleux said the new rule is meant to stop people from buying products connected to cutting down forests. He explained that it doesn't need changes to the law, but instead requires companies to be able to trace where products like coffee, cocoa, and wood come from and make sure they are produced in a way that protects the environment.

Because they have no other legal options in their own country, community groups are planning to bring the case to international courts. They say this decision is a bad example for other countries that want to avoid environmental laws by calling it reform.

For many Indigenous leaders, this law is a serious 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 this decision will encourage people to take land illegally and will make it harder to protect the environment in areas that are already in danger.

"Our communities have always protected our lands and the planet," Cusurichi said.