 The mean annual deforestation rate from 2000 to 2005 ( per year) was 18% higher than in the previous five years ( per year).Although deforestation declined significantly in the Brazilian Amazon between 2004 and 2014, there has been an increase to the present day.Since the discovery of fossil fuel reservoirs in the Amazon rainforest, oil drilling activity has steadily increased, peaking in the Western Amazon in the 1970s and ushering another drilling boom in the 2000s.