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

Masquez said the change is bad because it makes land private. This land, like forests, should belong to the country, not to private people.

People who support the change, which started in March, say it will help farms in Peru and give farmers more legal protection.

The Associated Press asked many people in Peru's farming business and a congresswoman who supports the new law for their opinions. Only one person from the farming business answered, but they said they did not want to talk about it.

Peru has the second biggest part of the Amazon rainforest after Brazil. It has over 70 million hectares, which is about 60% of Peru's land. This area has many different plants and animals. Over 50 groups of native people live there. Some of these groups live away from other people. These communities are important because they protect nature and the rainforests. The rainforests help the world's climate by taking in a lot of carbon dioxide. This gas causes climate change.

The first law in 2011 said you needed the state's permission and environmental studies to change forest land. But recent changes have made these rules weaker. The newest change lets landowners and companies not get permission, and it even makes past tree cutting legal.

The court in Peru said the change was okay after some lawyers went to court. The court changed some parts, but not the last part. This last part says that old illegal land changes are now legal. Experts think this is bad.

The court made a decision. It said that Indigenous groups should have been asked about changes to the law. The court also agreed that the Environment Ministry is in charge of dividing forests into areas.

Lawyer César Ipenza said: "The court agrees the law was bad for Indigenous people and should have talked to the tribes, but it still says the worst part is okay."

The reason for this change is like what happened in Brazil with former President Jair Bolsonaro. In Brazil, politicians and business people worked together to make rules about the environment weaker so that farming businesses could grow more easily. In Brazil, big farming companies were very organized and wanted this change. In Peru, it is not as organized, but different strong groups are working together for the same thing.

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

Vladimir Pinto works for a group called Amazon Watch that helps protect the environment. He said that groups working legally and groups working illegally are starting to work together.

Julia Urrunaga, who works for a group that helps the environment in Peru, said the government is not telling the truth. They say they must change laws because of new rules from the European Union. These rules will soon ask companies to show that things like food and oil do not come from land where trees were cut down against the law.

She said that if products from illegal deforestation can be sold later, it will make rules in places like the EU not work as well.

Urrunaga said this sends a bad message to markets everywhere and makes it harder to stop cutting down trees by limiting trade.

Olivier Coupleux, who works for the EU in Peru, said that recent changes to the law are not connected to the EU's rule about stopping deforestation.

In interviews, Coupleux told Peruvian media that the new rule wants to stop buying things that cause deforestation. He said it doesn't need new laws, but it needs to check where products like coffee, cocoa, and wood come from and make sure they are grown in a way that is good for the environment.

Because they could not win in their country's courts, groups are planning to go to international courts. They say the decision is a bad example for other countries that want to ignore environmental laws while saying they are making changes.

For many leaders of Indigenous people, the law is dangerous for their land, their groups, and how they live.

Julio Cusurichi said the new rule will make it easier for people to take land and will mean less protection for the environment in areas that are already in danger.

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