Innovation of the Third Sector to Improve Nature Reserve Management in the Post-COVID-19 Epidemic Era

Abstract

Encouraging the strong recovery of the economy is an urgent priority for all nations in the post-COVID-19 epidemic era. Social enterprise, as a new-type third sector, boasts unique advantages in structure and function, which can reach public interest targets without relying on government spending; social enterprises can effectively reduce the cost of ecological construction and maintenance, provide more professional and diverse services, and promote sustainable development in the regional economy, society, and ecology. Through an analysis of their structure and function, this study proved that social enterprises serve as a significant institutional innovation to cure the “government failure” and “market failure” in the area of public interest with the merits of the simple structure of the main body, strong self-innovation ability, high spontaneity of members, and convenient application of laws. Thus, its introduction to nature reserve management can pragmatically relieve the financial pressure and increasingly achieve public interest goals. The empirical research indicates that social enterprises need to be supplemented with the maintenance mechanism of bidirectional targets so that they can do their best to meet the requirements of “low government spending, high ecological benefits” in constructing nature reserves in the post-COVID-19 epidemic era, fully motivate the market, and develop the reliable force for public welfare.