A recent change to Peru's law about forests and wildlife is making environmental and Indigenous groups very angry. They warn that it could make cutting down trees in the Amazon rainforest happen faster, even though it is presented as helping the economy.

The change gets rid of the rule that landowners or companies need the state's permission before they turn forests into other types of land. People who are against this say it could make illegal cutting down of trees that has been happening for years seem okay.

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

Masquez also said the change is worrying because it makes land private that the constitution says belongs to the country. He added that forests should not be private property but belong to the nation.

People who support the change, which became law in March, believe it will make farming in Peru more stable and give farmers more legal security.

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

Peru has the second-biggest area of Amazon rainforest after Brazil. It covers more than 70 million hectares, which is about 60% of Peru's land. This area is home to an amazing variety of plants and animals and more than 50 groups of Indigenous people, some of whom live apart from others. These groups are very important for protecting the environment. The rainforest they protect helps to keep the world's climate stable because it takes in a lot of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a gas that causes climate change.

The first law in 2011 said you needed the government's permission and environmental reports to change how forest land was used, but newer changes have made these rules weaker. The newest change means landowners and companies don't need this permission anymore, and it even makes deforestation that happened in the past legal.

Peru's Constitutional Court supported the change after some lawyers said it was against the constitution. The court removed some parts of the change, but it kept the last part of the law. This part makes past illegal changes to how land is used 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 and confirmed that the Environment Ministry is in charge of planning forest areas.

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

The effort to change the law is like what happened in Brazil when Jair Bolsonaro was president. In Brazil, politicians and business groups worked together to make environmental rules weaker to help farming businesses. A very organized group of large farming companies led Brazil's change, but in Peru, it's a less organized but still strong group.

In Peru, the effort is supported by large farming companies, people who illegally take land, and those connected to illegal mining and drug dealing. Smaller farmers who are worried about protecting their land have also become involved.

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

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

She said that if products from illegal deforestation are later allowed to be sold legally, it will make rules like those in the EU less effective.

This gives a bad sign to world markets and makes it harder to stop cutting down forests by using trade rules, 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 new rule about deforestation.

In interviews with the media in Peru, Coupleux said the rule wants to stop people from buying things that cause deforestation. He explained that the rule doesn't need new laws, but instead asks for products like coffee, cocoa, and wood to be traceable and sustainable.

Because they have no more legal options in their own country, these groups are preparing to take the case to international courts. They warn that this decision is a dangerous example for other countries that want to avoid environmental laws by saying they are making changes.

For many Indigenous leaders, this law is a serious danger to their lands, communities, and traditional customs.

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

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