A new change to a law in Peru about forests and animals is making some groups angry. They worry it will cause more trees to be cut down in the Amazon rainforest. They say this change is for making money, but the groups think it is bad for the environment.

The new rule means people don't need the state's permission to cut down trees and use the land for other things. Some people worry this could make past illegal tree cutting seem okay.

"This is a big worry for us," said Alvaro Masquez Salvador. He is a lawyer who helps Indigenous people in Peru.

Masquez said the change is bad because it gives land that belongs to the country to private people. He said, "Forests are not private property—they belong to the nation."

People who support the new law, which started in March, say it will help farming in Peru and give farmers more clear legal rights.

The Associated Press asked many people in Peru's farming business what they thought. They also asked Maria Zeta Chunga, a congresswoman who strongly supported the law. Only one person from the farming business answered. They said they did not want to talk about it.

Peru has a large part of the Amazon rainforest, second only to Brazil. It covers over 70 million hectares, which is about 60% of Peru. This area has many different kinds of plants and animals. More than 50 groups of people live there, and some choose to live alone. These people are important because they protect the rainforest. The rainforest helps the world's weather by taking in a lot of carbon dioxide, which makes the climate change.

A law from 2011 said you needed permission and studies to change how you used forest land. But new changes have made this law weaker. The newest change lets people and companies change forest land without permission, even for things they did in the past.

Peru's court looked at a new law about land use after some lawyers asked questions about it. The court said most of the law was okay, keeping the part that says past changes to how land was used are fine. People who know a lot about law think this part is bad.

The court said it understood that Indigenous groups should have been asked about changes to the law, and it confirmed that the Environment Ministry is in charge of dividing forests into areas.

Environmental lawyer César Ipenza said: "The court says the law was unfair to the rights of local people and they should have been asked. But the court still agrees with the worst part."

This change is like what happened in Brazil with the last president, Jair Bolsonaro. In Brazil, politicians and businesses worked together to make environmental rules weaker so farming businesses could grow. In Brazil, large farming companies were very organized. In Peru, the groups are not as organized, but they are still powerful.

In Peru, people who own big farms, people who take land illegally, and people linked to illegal mining and drugs support this. Also, small and medium farmers who are worried about keeping their land have joined in.

Vladimir Pinto from Amazon Watch said that legal and illegal groups are starting to work together.

Julia Urrunaga, who works for a group in Peru, said the government is not telling the truth. They say they need to make changes because of rules from the European Union. Soon, companies will have to show that products like soy and meat did not come from land where trees were cut down illegally.

She said that if products from illegal deforestation become legal and are sold, rules like the EU's will not be as strong.

Urrunaga said this sends a bad message to countries around the world 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 are not connected to the EU's rule about stopping deforestation.

Coupleux spoke to the media in Peru. He said the new rule is meant to stop people from buying things that are connected to cutting down forests. He explained that 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 made in a way that helps the environment.

Because they cannot use their country's courts anymore, groups of people are planning to go to international courts. They say that the court's decision is a bad example for other countries that want to ignore environmental laws by calling it "reform."

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

Julio Cusurichi said this change will make people more likely to take land and will make it harder to protect the environment in places that are already in danger.

"Our people have always protected our land and the Earth," Cusurichi said.