Warning: Disabling the verification of SSL certificates can lead to man-in-the-middle attacks.

When leaving the line : $this->amazonSes->disable_ssl_verification(); in this code:

private function amazonSESSend($raw)
    {
        if ($this->amazonSes == null) {

            $this->amazonSes = new \AmazonSES(
                array("key" => $this->config->amazon->AWSAccessKeyId,
                "secret" => $this->config->amazon->AWSSecretKey)
            );

            $this->amazonSes->disable_ssl_verification();
        }

as it is I am getting this error:

Warning: Disabling the verification of SSL certificates can lead to man-in-the-middle attacks.
It is potentially unsafe and highly discouraged.
in C:\wamp\www\vokuro\vendor\amazonwebservices\aws-sdk-for-php\sdk.class.php on line 536

so, I commented it out like that:

private function amazonSESSend($raw)
    {
        if ($this->amazonSes == null) {

            $this->amazonSes = new \AmazonSES(
                array("key" => $this->config->amazon->AWSAccessKeyId,
                "secret" => $this->config->amazon->AWSSecretKey)
            );

            // $this->amazonSes->disable_ssl_verification();
        }

and now it's gone.

So I have 2 questions:

1) Why did the developer who created Vokuro put this line there in the first place? Why disabling SSL?

2) What happens if I continue using Vokuro app with commented line like this:

Thank you for the explanation.